Of course there's a bear on it

For some reason I was digging rather deeper into my jewellery drawer than usual yesterday, looking for something specific. What I wasn’t searching for at all was a blue box with “charm bracelet” written on it, but of course, having found it I had to open it and spend time reminding myself of its charms.

Inside the box was a keepsake of my childhood, and though the 18 charm suggests it featured well into my teenage years, I really don’t remember wearing it much at all.

I took it out of the box and looked at some of them, remembering the odd occasion or place where I had been given one. I remembered I particularly liked those which allowed some interaction, like this barrel organ which opens up, though unusually for me, I can’t remember anything else about it.

Inside the barrel organ is a small monkey.

There’s a swan, too and I’d like to say it was from when I was taken to the ballet or something. But that would be a fabrication, because I really don’t remember anything about that one either.

I do remember it being a useful talking point at family occasions, offering a topic of conversation for seldom-seen aunts and family friends who could ask about a charm or two. I don’t remember wearing it that often though - only high days and holidays because the heavier it became, the more uncomfortable too.

Of course, there’s a bear in the collection, though many of the charms are clearly holiday souvenirs. There’s a windmill and a clog, a matador’s hat and a couple of bridges - Tower Bridge for sure and possibly the Tamar bridge? I can’t remember. But there are also quite a few “anonymous” charms such as a candlestick, a dog and a dolls pram, none of which have any significance that I can recall and I feel a little sorry about that.

Collectibles are a funny phenomenon, aren’t they? Fine if they are of genuine personal interest and each of the collected items is cherished but this wasn’t at all the case here. My bracelet prompted a discussion with my WI friends at our weekly online coffee and chat, when several of us spoke of facing similar dilemmas: What to do with such things? I am pretty sure I won’t wear it again, the charms have only the slightest of memories attached to them and none are particularly sentimental. It’s of no significant value beyond the weight of the silver. Other friends shared similar thoughts about their collections and what was thought to be the current iteration of these charms: Pandora beads.

Perhaps I’ll need to do some creative thinking and come up with a brilliant way of bringing my bracelet back to life? If you have any ideas, you will share them, won’t you? Pretty please!

PS I just searched for “silver charm bracelet” and up popped ten or a dozen pages on Ebay, each one with twenty or more silver charm bracelets just like mine on it. Maybe I’m the only one who put their bracelet back in the drawer?!