The Moons of Destiny

And now the birthday present reveal!

If you ploughed through my recent post A tale of six bracelets you'll know that for my 71st birthday I decided to have yet another silver bracelet, but one unlike any that have preceded it. A bracelet that promised to give me no problems from being too heavy, or denting my skin because too solid and unyielding, or falling off my wrist because of catch or clasp insecurity. It would, of course, have to look rather special, and go well with my other silver jewellery, the clothes I wear, and indeed my personal style in general. 

Quite a tall order! Could such a bracelet be found? Frankly, this was the final throw of the dice. If I hadn't got it right now, I would give up on bracelets entirely. But I really do think this is The One.

As for the fancy name, well, it is in fact almost entirely descriptive. This birthday bracelet is in the form of twenty-nine spherical silver nuggets of various sizes, strung more-or-less randomly on tiger tail (steel wire encased in nylon), with an S-shaped and hallmarked clasp. They look exactly like cratered silver moons revolving in close procession around a giant planet (my wrist), with nary a gap. I don't think the laws of physics would allow this in real life, the unequal masses of each moon rapidly leading to chaos. Unless, of course, each moon were composed of a different combination of elements, so that despite being different sizes, they still had the same mass as each other. I'm probably quite wrong - I dismally failed my Physics O-Level back in 1967 - and in any case, they have to be made of silver and nothing else) 

I admit the 'destiny' bit is a little pretentious, but this bracelet is meant to be a significant personal possession, and deserves a name that's out of the ordinary. In any case - who knows - acquaintance with it may influence the course of my future life in some important way. Such is the power of jewellery! At any rate, 'The Moons of Destiny' has a ring to it that I like. Portentous, that's the word. 

Well, it has made a good start! I had the length adjusted so its slackness on my right wrist was just so - a little bit more than the FitBit smartwatch on my left wrist. So it isn't tight on my wrist: there's some play; I can push a finger under The Moons. But it can't be rolled very far up or down my wrist, and there is no danger of the clasp getting into a position where we suddenly part company. I can undo the clasp and take the moons off one-handed, but putting them on again by myself will be tricky. Although, being mildly inventive, I do see a cunning way of doing it. Mind you, the plan is to wear this bracelet 24/7, and in ordinary circumstances never take it off. I have no idea whether it will really stand up to such relentless intimacy, but it looks robust enough.

So let's have some pictures.

I first saw the bracelet on 23rd June. I'd just lunched with friends at The Nutmeg Tree in Ditchling, and I had bracelets on my mind. So I suggested that we pop into nearby Pruden & Smith as the next thing. And there I spotted this bracelet on display: 

The cost - £199 - was no surprise. But for that you do get an exclusive in-house design in solid silver, durably strung. It called to me. And it was an immediate hit with my friends, despite all my past bracelet mistakes. A very suitable birthday present. 

As I say, it needed lengthening, by about half an inch, changing some of the nuggets to do so. That bumped the cost up to £220. The birthday present deal was that in accordance with our long-established custom, each friend put up £20 towards the cost - a total contribution therefore of £80, with myself paying the balance of £140. Both Jo and I had accounts at Pruden & Smith; but it was done on her account, and so I paid her the £140. 

The next step was to pop in once the lengthening and rewiring had been done, for a fitting. So I returned on 30th June.

A length of tiger tail had been left, in case more work was necessary. If all was fine, it would be neatly trimmed off. I asked the girl who was serving me - who was my namesake, another Lucy (that had to be a good omen!) - to take some shots with LXV:

On this occasion, Lucy put the bracelet on my wrist differently from how I've now got it. But the general effect was the same. It was a perfect fit. I took it off with a sigh. The next time I'd see it would be at lunchtime on the day after my actual birthday, when it would be presented to me, gift wrapped. Fast-forward then to yesterday, 7th July, once more at The Nutmeg Tree in Ditchling. This was my garb for the occasion. I think green looks great with silver.

The following pictures say it all.

One of my friends, Sue, couldn't be there. So Jackie expertly 'forged' her message on the card.

Back home I had a much closer look at The Moons of Destiny. I used the little Leica D-Lux 4 (rather than LXV) for these next shots, as it has a very good macro mode.

LXV (my Leica X Vario) can't get in so close, although if it could its pictures would be sharper and the colours better. The point of the last two shots is to show the hallmark, which consists of the maker's mark 'APRS'; the silver fineness mark '925'; a leopard's head for the London assay office; a lion passant to denote Sterling Silver; and a small-case 'Y', the year mark for 2023.

At the moment the moons are new and bright - looking in fact like little globes of frosted sugar. I don't know how long they will stay that way. By wearing them constantly I should ward off - or at least inhibit - any tendency to tarnishing. But surely they will darken in time. As for the tiger tail that holds them together, this will with average luck last two or three years before stretching too much, or the nylon deteriorating. Then it'll be back to Pruden & Smith for re-wiring. 

Meanwhile I am very pleased indeed with my birthday present. I think it's pretty, and suitable for any occasion likely to arise. I'm now standing by for that promised destiny - doubtless an extraordinary one! [Drums fingers while waiting]

NEXT DAY SEQUEL

Of course, I had to take The Moons off to see how hard it would be to be them back on again single-handed. In fact it wasn't too difficult. I found it easier to wear my new bracelet in the way I had when trying it out for fit on 30th June. That put the hook end of the clasp in a better position for engagement. It was however enough of a fiddle to discourage me from taking The Moons off too often. 

While off my wrist, I popped my bracelet on my super-accurate electronic scales. It weighed precisely 50g. That's a satisfying weight, and yet not too heavy. The spot price for silver in the UK today is 58p per gramme, so that if we knock off (say) 3g for the tiger tail wire that the nuggets are strung onto, the value of the silver metal in the bracelet is (50-3)g x £0.58 = just over £27. About one-eighth of its retail cost. That's what you pay at a posh workshop jeweller's in upmarket Ditchling, a village with a long association with the 'Arts and Crafts' movement. 

The nuggets are solid silver, apart from the hole through them, and broadly of three sizes. If we call the smallest size 1, the middle size 2, and the largest size 3, then we have:

19 nuggets that are size 1

6 nuggets that are size 2

4 nuggets that are size 3

I have also wondered about the claimed randomness in the way they are strung. Using the three nugget sizes, this is the stringing pattern from the 'non-hook' end of the clasp round to the 'hook end' (I've put a space after each size 2 or size 3 nugget):

113 112 112 1113 2 112 1113 2 13 1112 1  

Hmm. This doesn't seem like the jumble of sizes you might expect. There appears to be an underlying pattern, however shadowy. But I didn't mind one bit. I'd rather have The Moons strung in a sequence based on visual balance and attractiveness, than a chaotic sequence flowing from mere blind chance.

P&S have certainly designed and fashioned a bracelet that catches the eye. A girl at Waitrose this morning told me - without the slightest prompting - what a nice bracelet it was. What a sweet moment! I'm off to Suffolk tomorrow. What will the people I encounter there say? As readers know, I like a chat. The Moons may well prove quite a conversation-piece!