Antique Qing Dynasty Ox Amulet Charm Pendant

A vintage silver mounted carved cow (bull) bone amulet charm, featuring the iconic figa or mano fico symbol - just the kind of jewelry Grand Tour visitors...

The figa hand symbol is from ancient times. It is said to ward off the evil eye, gives protection to the wearer and it is associated with good luck and fertility. We see it as a modern sign of strength and empowerment. This vintage figa hand charm is made of nephrite jade with a 14k gold bail...

A vintage Italian 18 karat gold and silver Virgin Mary pendant. This pendant is beautifully created with an openwork border set with floral decor of five silver flowers and in its center Virgin Mary is depicted in high relief. Charms and pendants are great to collect as wearable memories, it has a symbolic and often a sentimental value. They can be added to your necklace, charm bracelet or layered with your other favorites. The pendant is in very good condition and of high quality. It measures 30 mm in length including bail and width 23 mm. The pendant weighs 2.71 grams. Hallmark 750 present and visible on the back. The pendant comes without the chain. The pendant will be gift-wrapped in a black and gold jewelry box.

A vintage mano figa hand charm pendant set with a beautiful openwork 9 karat gold bail. The hand is made from brown reddish synthetic plastic and nicely detailed with the filigree wo...

A vintage gold engraved sunburst heart charm pendant. The sunburst heart charm is beautifully designed and made in 18 karat gold. Charms are great to collect as wearable memories, it...

An Italian 18 karat gold cross charm pendant. This vintage religious cross charm has a beautiful design with engraved details. Charms are great to co...

An antique charm pendant designed as a rooster in gold and silver set with 35 rose-cut diamonds with an estimated total weight of 0.35 carats and a cabochon ruby eye. Unmarked but te...

An antique charm pendant designed as a pig in gold and silver set with 26 rose-cut diamonds with an estimated total weight of 0.40 carats and a cabochon ruby eye. Unmarked but tested...

This fun vintage sterling silver key charm makes a unique addition as a pendant for one of your longer chains or added to a key ring. Measuring at three inch...

AMULET PENDANT WITH FIGA Spain, c. 1620–1630 Jet, silver, and enamel Weight 60.7 grams; dimensions 85 × 49 × 18 mm Large pendant in the shape of a hand carved from jet with a clinched fist in the figa (Spanish higa) gesture. In the palm of the hand is a heart carved in relief and on the back a six-ray star in a circle. The silver mount covers the wrist like a cuff and is decorated with a frilled border, and on the front with collet-set bosses with silver C-scrolls against blue enamel; on the back is a roundel in relief with floral motif. Domed base for the pendant loop in pea-pod form. The figa (also fica or higa) represents an age-old symbol of protection against the evil eye and other demonic threats. Its origins were pagan and buried deep in antiquity. Roman examples, such as one found recently in an archeological excavation in London, also make it clear that the protective qualities are based in a sexual symbolism–particularly the power of the phallus. The Roman bone figa/phallus in effect represents the phallus twice; that is, the gesture made by the figa hand is generally explained as fingers representing the female genitalia (vulva) penetrated by the phallus of the thumb. But other interpretations are less specific, including explanations that the left hand is the feminine principle, and the right hand is the masculine. In Spain, jet figa are common; we see one in the portrait of Anne of Austria the infanta (p. 75). That is not to say that the objects are not sumptuous or treasured. Jet was a very valuable material, and in many examples like this one, the figa is embellished with beautiful enameling or is even gem-studded. Comparable objects occur in equally sumptuous materials such as rock crystal. The enameled setting allows a dating of these objects that otherwise might prove difficult, given that the production of such objects in Spain is so consistent over centuries. Indeed, there is another, even more elaborately carved example in this collection, attached to the “magic belt” (no. 9). That example may belong to an earlier group. That figa includes deeply excavated carving, including on the upper surface, an M-shaped design that Walter Leo Hildburgh links to the heart shape (as it occurs more explicitly on this example). Hildburgh argues that its presence is especially common on these objects and that it originally represented the Sacred Heart of Mary...

This exquisite and rare black jade tablet dates to the Qing period. The Qing Dynasty period spanned the years 1636 -1912. Precisely dating jade artifacts...

An 18 karat (18K) yellow gold charm pendant designed as an Etruscan pierced pendant set with blue paste. Stamped 750 for 18 karat gold and Italian manufacture. Dimensions: 2.9 x 1.8...