What Makes a Locket so Special?

Originally from the Victorian era, lockets have been around for centuries and their uses are constantly expanding from being given as a condolence for those who have lost a loved one, to romantic gifts and keep sakes passed down into every generation.

They are designed for all ages and generally worn on chains around a person’s neck. The varied sized lockets open in different ways to reveal a space used for storing photographs or other small items such as a curl of hair. But what makes lockets so special in today’s culture?

These precious little pendants mean that the person wearing it has something very close to their heart and therefore so are the contents of it, so it doesn’t really matter what a locket contains, it’s the meaning of what it holds. In the past lockets were made rather large in order to accommodate their contents and miniature paintings of people, but as time progressed and cameras were invented the designs grew smaller and smaller.

The most popular shape for a locket is the ‘heart’. This is a more romantic design and can be given to a loved one to contain pictures of children, husbands or wives. Most heart pendants or other shapes seem to be so popular today due to the brilliant way in which they’re made so that their locket feature is hidden in an ordinary looking pendant.

As well as having importance in everyday life, lockets have also appeared in many films to portray their significance. The stories usually consist of a lost or abandoned child possessing a tiny picture in a locket of the parents that they seek to find. This special significance that a locket holds can sometimes be as important as other jewellery items such as diamond engagement rings when given as a precious gift.

Lockets also expand into diamond jewellery and you can now find many designs that feature a small diamond or gemstone and even places to have special messages engraved for that special touch. They also come with varied patterns featured on the front of the locket such as flowers or spirals to give detail to the material.

Places to find special designs of lockets do not have to be limited to antique stores and small expensive shops found in back streets. The internet now provides a wide range of lockets from wooden and glass to silver and gold, but a more substantial material is recommended for a sentimental item or photo.