For thousands of years people have been carrying charms as amulets to ward off evil or for fortune and prosperity. Using charms on bracelets is thought to have been started by the ancient Egyptians who wore them as signs of their devotion and to take with them to the afterlife in order that the gods could recognize them and give them their fitting rank.

During the early days of Christianity men and women wore a charm fashioned as a fish to identify themselves to one another. During the Dark Ages, charms were used for religious recognition and to designate the lineage of the bearer. Knights in the Middle Ages wore them to guard themselves in battle and the common people also carried charms. All through the Renaissance their use declined, principally by the more affluent classes, as people became better educated and much less likely to believe in superstitions. Nevertheless the less knowledgeable poorer classes continued to wear charms as a defense against malevolence and to bring them luck.

The wearing of charms was rejuvenated in Great Britain by Queen Victoria who wore a silver charm bracelet with lockets containing images of her close family. This had an immense impact on the wearing of charm bracelets by the people who began to wear them, not as talismans, but as ornamental items. Family crests. glass beads and lockets became the mode of the day. After the end of World War 2 there was a huge outburst of charm wearing as servicemen brought back trinkets and beads to their fiancees from different places of the world. Designers in the US picked up the craze and started to create charms and silver charm jewelry. Ever since wearing charm jewelry has continued to flourish.

In the present day a broad selection of earrings, necklaces and charm bracelets are available with bracelets being the most admired. Silver and gold are commonly used although some people favor bracelets made from beads or seed pearls with gold or silver charms. Bracelets differ in price from less than $100 to more than 00 so are within everyone’s resources. There are numerous types of religious charms representing saints and a huge selection of charms depicting animals and objects including crosses, hearts, ankhs,rabbits etc. One of the most popular are angel charms.

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