For thousands of years men and women have been wearing charms as talismans to ward off evil or for luck and prosperity. The use of charms on bracelets seems to have been started by the ancient Egyptians who wore them as signs of their devotion and to carry with them to the afterlife in order that their gods would identify them and give them their fitting rank.

The early Christians in Rome carried a charm fashioned as a fish to recognize each other. In the Dark Ages, charms were used for religious recognition and to designate the family of the bearer. Knights in the Middle Ages wore them to protect themselves in combat and the common people also wore charms. Throughout the Renaissance their use declined, particularly by the richer classes, as they became better educated and much less prone to believe in superstitions. Still the less educated poorer classes still wore charms as protection against malevolence and to give them good luck.

The wearing of charms was rejuvenated in the UK by Queen Victoria who wore a gold charm bracelet with lockets containing pictures of her family. This had a great affect on charm bracelet wearing by the general population who began to wear them, not as talismans, but as ornamental objects. Lockets and family crests became the fashion of the day. Following the conclusion of World War 2 there was a massive outbreak of charm wearing as servicemen brought back trinkets and beads to their girlfriends from different countries of the world. Craftsmen in the United States picked up the trend and started to fashion charms and silver charm jewelry. From that time the wearing of charm bracelets has continued to thrive.

Nowadays a widespread assortment of necklaces, bracelets and earrings are obtainable with bracelets being the most admired. The precious metals, silver and gold, are generally used although some people favor bracelets made from seed pearls or beads with precious metal charms. Bracelets vary in cost from under $100 to more than $1000 and are therefore within everyone’s budget. There are lots of kinds of religious charms depicting saints and a considerable range of charms depicting objects and animals including hearts, cupids, crosses, dolphins etc. One of the most popular are angel charms.