A little more detail…

Lucky Sixpence Hares

Hand-Pierced Hare Necklace Made from an Antique Silver Sixpence

A hare beneath the moon.

An old silver sixpence.

And a little bit of luck to carry with you.

The Lucky Sixpence Hare brings together two things that have travelled through British folklore for generations: the mysterious hare and the lucky silver sixpence.

Each necklace is individually pierced by hand from an original antique British sixpence, with a choice of two hare designs.

Choose the quiet Moon Gazing Hare, sitting beneath the crescent moon and stars, or the Leaping Hare, caught in that wonderful moment when all four feet have left the earth.

One watches the moon. One runs beneath it.

Choose Your Hare

The two designs carry the same landscape and mythology, but have very different characters.

The Moon Gazing Hare

The first hare sits quietly among leaves and grasses, its head raised towards a crescent moon.

There is stillness in this one.

The hare is not running or hiding.

It has stopped.

Above it hang the moon and stars, while the original date of the old sixpence remains beneath the landscape where the individual coin allows.

It feels contemplative, watchful and just a little otherworldly.

A hare caught in that quiet moment between the earth and the night sky.

The Leaping Hare

The second design is all movement.

The hare stretches forward beneath the crescent moon, its body lifted clear of the ground as though it might disappear beyond the edge of the coin altogether.

Stars surround it while fragments of the original sixpence remain visible around the outer rim.

Where the Moon Gazing Hare waits, this one goes.

It carries a feeling of freedom, instinct and momentum.

The wild thing choosing its own direction.

The Hare in British Folklore

Few animals in our landscape have gathered as much folklore as the hare.

It belongs to the field edge, the moonlit path and the uncertain hour when daylight begins to disappear.

Fast enough to vanish almost as soon as it is seen, the hare became an animal of mystery.

Stories connected it with transformation, intuition, fertility, the moon and the hidden world beyond ordinary human experience.

In old tales, the hare is rarely just another woodland animal.

There is often something more going on.

A hare appears where it should not.

It watches.

It leads the dogs somewhere unexpected.

It disappears.

And occasionally, according to the old stories, the hare was not a hare at all.

The Moon and the Hare

The relationship between hare and moon appears again and again in mythology and folk tradition.

Perhaps that connection began simply because hares are often encountered in the strange half-light of dawn, dusk and moonlit nights.

Whatever its origin, the image has endured.

For me, the crescent moon gives the little silver scene its atmosphere.

It places the hare somewhere outside ordinary daytime.

Somewhere quieter.

Somewhere older.

The hour when the familiar landscape begins to feel slightly magical.

The Lucky Sixpence

Then there is the coin itself.

For generations, the sixpence became associated with good fortune.

Small enough to keep in a pocket, purse or shoe, it became the sort of object people carried, gifted and saved long after its monetary value had disappeared.

That makes the old sixpence particularly suited to becoming jewellery.

It was already halfway to becoming a talisman.

I simply give it another life.

Old Silver, Not New Sheet

Each pendant begins with an original antique British silver sixpence.

I do not melt the coin down.

I work inside it.

The design is carefully arranged within the small circle of the sixpence so that elements of the original coin can remain visible around the new image.

Its edge, lettering, date, wear and small marks may survive within the finished piece.

I want them there.

They are evidence of what the silver was before it reached my bench.

The hare gets a new story, but the coin is allowed to keep its old one.

Hand Pierced at the Hairy Growler Bench

These are small pieces, which makes them deceptively demanding to make.

Tiny entry holes are drilled into the sixpence before a fine jeweller’s saw blade is threaded through the coin.

The background is then removed one section at a time.

The space around the ears.

Between the legs.

Around the moon.

Between leaves, grasses and stars.

Once the piercing is complete, the hare is refined and its fur worked into the remaining silver by hand.

Leaves gain their veins, the landscape receives texture and the tiny celestial details are brought to life.

It is slow work performed on a very small scale.

There is nowhere for a mistake to hide.

Which Hare Are You?

There is no deeper rule for choosing between them.

You may simply know.

The Moon Gazing Hare is for the watcher, the dreamer, the person who notices the moon and occasionally stops to look upwards.

The Leaping Hare is for movement, freedom, instinct and the courage to go.

One stays still long enough to wonder.

The other trusts its legs.

Both belong beneath the same moon.

A Little Silver Talisman

The Lucky Sixpence Hare can mark a birthday, an important year, a new beginning or simply a love of hares and the British countryside.

But it does not need a prescribed meaning.

That is the wonderful thing about talismans.

Eventually, the person carrying them decides what they mean.

A little luck.

A reminder to keep going.

A connection to home.

A memory of someone.

Or simply a tiny wild hare travelling through life with you.

Product Details

• Handcrafted from an original antique British silver sixpence
• Choice of two designs: Moon Gazing Hare or Leaping Hare
• Crescent moon and star detailing
• Traditional hand saw-piercing technique
• Fine hand engraved fur and landscape detailing
• Original coin features retained wherever the design allows
• Historic wear and character of the original sixpence preserved where possible
• Individually handcrafted and finished at the Hairy Growler bench
• Each antique coin will vary naturally in date, wear and patina
• Small handmade differences mean no two hares will ever be completely identical

From Currency to Talisman

Once it was sixpence.

A tiny piece of silver passed from hand to hand.

Now there is a hare inside it.

You can choose the one that sits beneath the moon.

Or the one already disappearing into the night.

Either way, the old silver carries on travelling.

A hare. A moon. An old silver sixpence. And perhaps, just a little luck.