The Secret Language of Jewelry
What Your Favorite Symbols Really Mean
Jewelry has always been about more than looking beautiful. For centuries, people have used rings, pendants, brooches and charms to say things they couldn't (or didn't want to) put into words. A snake could promise eternal love. A tiny key might suggest that someone held the key to your heart. A flower could carry an entire romantic message. Even the way a piece of jewelry was worn could mean something.
Today, we may choose jewelry simply because we love the way it looks, but many of the motifs we wear still carry stories that go back hundreds or even thousands of years.
So, what is your jewelry saying?
Snakes: Eternity, Love & Transformation
Snake jewelry may seem edgy and modern, but it has a surprisingly romantic history. Because a snake coils around itself—and because it sheds its skin and emerges renewed—it has long represented eternity, rebirth and transformation. Snake jewelry became especially fashionable during the Victorian era. Queen Victoria's engagement ring from Prince Albert was famously designed as a serpent with an emerald-set head. The snake's circular form made it a fitting symbol of everlasting love.
Wear it for: transformation, strength, eternal love or simply because a great snake ring looks fantastic.
Hearts: There's More to the Story
The heart is probably jewelry's most recognizable symbol of love, but historically, heart jewelry could carry much more specific messages. A heart with a key suggested romantic devotion. A locked heart could represent a heart belonging to one person. Two intertwined hearts represented two lives joined together, while heart-shaped lockets allowed the wearer to literally keep someone close. And heart jewelry certainly doesn't have to be romantic. Today it can represent children, parents, friendships or simply a reminder to love yourself.
Wear it for: love in whatever form matters most to you.
Stars: Guidance, Hope & Possibility
Long before we could pull up directions on our phones, people looked to the stars for guidance. It's easy to understand why stars became symbols of direction, protection and hope. Celestial jewelry became particularly fashionable during the Victorian era, when stars, crescent moons and other heavenly motifs appeared on brooches, earrings and pendants. Today, there's something wonderfully optimistic about wearing a star.
Wear it for: a new direction, a dream you're chasing or a reminder to keep going.
Crescent Moons: Change & New Beginnings
Moon jewelry has appeared across cultures for thousands of years. Because the moon continually moves through its phases, it naturally became associated with change, cycles, intuition and renewal. Crescent moon jewelry enjoyed another surge of popularity in the 19th century, often paired with stars in elaborate celestial designs. It's also one of those antique motifs that looks remarkably contemporary today.
Wear it for: a new chapter, personal growth or embracing change.
Flowers: A Bouquet With a Message
Victorians took symbolism very seriously especially when it came to flowers. During the 19th century, floriography, or the language of flowers, allowed people to communicate sentiments through particular blooms. Naturally, those flowers found their way into jewelry. Forget-me-nots represented remembrance and enduring love. Roses symbolized love and passion. Daisies were associated with innocence, while lilies could represent purity.
Wear it for: someone you want to remember or simply to enjoy your favorite flower.
Keys & Locks: You Know What This One Means…
Keys have long been associated with access, knowledge, freedom and possibility but put a key next to a heart shaped lock and the message becomes considerably more romantic. Victorian and later jewelry frequently played with locks, keys and hearts to communicate affection and devotion. Today, we like the symbolism even without the romance. A key can represent opening a new door, reaching a milestone or entering a new phase of life.
Wear it for: love, independence or whatever door you're opening next.
Horseshoes: A Little Luck Never Hurts
The horseshoe has been used as a good-luck symbol for centuries. One tradition says a horseshoe positioned with its ends pointing upward holds the luck inside. Turned downward, interpretations vary: some say the luck spills out, while others believe it pours luck onto whoever passes beneath it. Victorian jewelers loved the motif, creating horseshoe brooches, stickpins, rings and pendants set with everything from diamonds to colorful gemstones.
Wear it for: good fortune or because a little extra luck never hurts.
Eyes: Watching Over You
One of the most fascinating symbols in jewelry is the eye. Across different cultures and periods, eye imagery has been associated with protection and watchfulness. The evil eye amulet, with roots stretching back thousands of years, is still worn around the world as a symbol intended to protect against misfortune.
But Georgian era jewelry gave us something entirely different and wonderfully mysterious.
The Lover's Eye
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, miniature portraits showing only a lover's eye briefly became fashionable. The idea was wonderfully secretive. Because only the eye was depicted, the identity of the person could remain known only to the giver and recipient. These tiny paintings were incorporated into brooches, rings, pendants and lockets.
Essentially, it was the Georgian version of a private message.
Hands: Friendship, Loyalty & Love
Look closely at antique jewelry and you may find two hands clasped together. These fede rings have an extraordinarily long history. Their name comes from the Italian mani in fede, or “hands in faith,” and clasped hands have been used to represent trust, friendship, loyalty and marriage for centuries. The Irish Claddagh with its hands holding a crowned heart is probably the best known descendant of this tradition.
Wear it for: friendship, commitment and connection.
Acrostic Jewelry: The Secret Is in the Stones
This may be our favorite jewelry secret of all. During the Georgian and Victorian periods, gemstones could actually be used to spell messages. The first letter of each gemstone's name represented a letter in a word.
For example, a piece spelling DEAREST might use:
Diamond
Emerald
Amethyst
Ruby
Emerald
Sapphire
Topaz
Unless you knew the code, you'd simply see a beautiful row of colorful gemstones. It's personalized jewelry taken to an entirely different level.
Lockets: Jewelry With Something to Hide
Some jewelry communicated its meaning on the outside. Lockets kept theirs hidden. They have held miniature portraits, photographs, handwritten notes, locks of hair and other tiny keepsakes. During the Victorian period, lockets also became important pieces of mourning jewelry, allowing people to carry a physical reminder of someone they had lost. Modern lockets may hold photographs instead of painted miniatures, but the idea hasn't really changed. Some things are simply worth keeping close.
Even Gemstones Had Something to Say
The symbolism didn't stop with shapes and motifs. Gemstones themselves developed associations over centuries. Diamonds became connected with endurance and everlasting love. Rubies with passion and vitality. Sapphires with loyalty and sincerity. Emeralds with renewal and hope. Pearls with purity and wisdom.
Whether or not you believe a gemstone possesses any particular power, choosing one because its meaning resonates with you makes a piece of jewelry that much more personal.
What Does Your Jewelry Say About You?
Perhaps that's what we love most about jewelry.
A piece can be beautiful simply because it's beautiful. But it can also mark an anniversary, remember someone you love, celebrate a new beginning, carry a family story or quietly symbolize something that nobody else knows.
And sometimes the jewelry we choose today becomes the mysterious piece someone else discovers decades from now. So take another look inside your jewelry box. There might be more stories in there than you think.
We love jewelry with a story whether it's a vintage treasure, a meaningful new piece or an heirloom you'd like to redesign and make your own.
Visit us in Guilford, Madison or New Haven and let us help you find (or create) something that says exactly what you want it to.
