Gretna Green Vintage Charm

Confession: as a kid, I loved historical romance novels. The first one I ever read was called Man of My Dreams by Johanna Lindsey and I only got it from the library for two reason.  One, the cover. Two, they finally said I was old enough to get it a book from that section.

I can hear you judging me, but hey - I was only in 5th grade!  Cut me some slack. I have since progressed to more pithy things, but let me just say, my eyes were opened.

Anyway, it seemed like every novel I read seemed to have the same storyline: guy meets girl and they have to escape to Gretna Green. It became a running joke in my middle school book club. How many books can we find with men picking up women for quickie marriages just over the Scottish border in Gretna Green?  We found a lot.

Which brings me to this!

This vintage sterling silver charm is soooooo on my charm bracelet now. It reminds me of everything: middle school, the books we used the read, the shared giggles over still undetermined lunch food and the day I got that book from the library. 

My Traditional Vintage Charm Bracelet

I've officially run out of space on my charm bracelet. Mostly. Here it is in all it's glory. Last time I counted, I had 50 something charms up there...that was about a year ago.

I've been adding to it for about 15 years (half of my life) and it has all of my memories from jungles in India, tea in Athens to my graduation from grad school. I've decided to start another one when I get married.

You'll see a mixture of new and vintage charms. When I go some where for the first time, I usually get the first charm I can find, then take a more leisurely pace to find vintage ones of the location. I devote an entire day of vacation to scouring antique and vintage stores in every country...every city I go to. Once I get home, I review them all and find the one that will represent my trip/event best and put it on my bracelet.  The others I display in a clear jewelry box or put up for sale in my shop, Vintage Charms and Bracelets.

Most are sterling silver, though I have a few lesser silvers (.800, .900) and a handful of pewter ones.  My favorites are the vintage tea cup charm from the 1940s, the Portugal/Lisbon shield charm, the Swiss chalet (opened in the picture to reveal a 'sleeping' couple), and the fruit cart that represents my time living in the Mediterranean.

Here you can see that I don't solder my charms to have them permanently attached to the bracelet. Rather, I use split rings.  They last forever and ensure that the charms will only come off IF I make them. Jump rings work fine for most folks, but this thing is too big and if I were to lose a charm, I wouldn't know it soon enough to look for it...this I know tragically all too well.

Anyway, If you have questions about any of the charms you see, just ask in the comment section below. If you have pictures of your own charm bracelet, feel free to post the link - I'm ADDICTED to charm bracelets and can look at (drool over) them all day!

Enamel Travel Shield Charms

Ever had a really kick butt day? I just stumbled across a cache of vintage travel charms dating from the 1950s onwards at an auction.  Unbelievable!

If I had a mind to, I could sell them at $12 – $50 a piece, but these are all keepers. Most of them are of places that I have traveled to in the past and others are just too awesome to let go.  My favorites are Santander and Lucerne...if I ever find duplicates of these, I'm turning them into earrings.