Brief Summary…
- Recycled silver Half Crown coin circa 1880’s – 1900’s
- Meticulously hand cut, carved and engraved
- Made using only traditional hand tools and techniques
- Necklace chain included, various length options
- Optional free engraved details on reverse
- Optional Silver, Copper or Bonze wee charm
- Hairy Growler Shepherd’s Crook Necklace Catch: Sterling Silver
- Size : Approx 50mm * 30mm
- Symbolism : return to innocence
- Handcrafted & Recycled in Cambridge
- Made carefully with love
A little more detail…
Midnight Gathering of Moon Gazing Hares
Archive Piece
Created in Cambridge from historic silver coins.
Part of the Moonlight Collection.
Originally introduced in 2014.
The Story
Some pieces arrive quietly and then refuse to leave.
The Midnight Gathering of Moon Gazing Hares became one of those pieces.
A circle of hares sits beneath the moon, each one looking upward toward the same distant light. Hand cut from old silver coins, the design captured something many people recognised instinctively but found difficult to name: the comfort of shared wonder.
Over the years it travelled far beyond the workshop. It became a birthday gift, an anniversary gift, a token of friendship, a reminder of loved ones, and for many wearers a small companion carried through the ordinary and extraordinary moments of life.
While individual pieces come and go, the gathering remains.
Why It Matters
Certain designs become landmarks.
Midnight Gathering helped establish many of the ideas that would later become central to the Hairy Growler world.
The piece brought together several enduring themes:
- The symbolic hare
- Moonlit folklore
- Historic silver given a second life
- Quiet companionship
- Shared journeys beneath the same sky
- The meeting point between myth and memory
Many later moon hare pieces owe something to this design.
In that sense, Midnight Gathering is not simply an old necklace. It is part of the foundation of an entire collection.
The Hare Beneath the Moon
The hare has occupied a special place in folklore for centuries.
Across Britain and Ireland, hares have long been associated with mystery, intuition, transformation and luck. They appear in stories as messengers between worlds, creatures that belong equally to the daylight meadow and the moonlit field.
Unlike rabbits, hares are solitary by nature. Yet in folklore they often gather beneath the moon, creating an image that feels both improbable and deeply familiar.
The moon-gazing hare became one of the most enduring symbols within the Hairy Growler collection because it speaks to something universal.
The desire to pause.
To wonder.
To look up.
From Coin to Gathering
Before they became hares, the silver existed as money.
The coins passed from hand to hand, pocket to pocket, year after year. They witnessed transactions long forgotten and travelled roads no one now remembers.
At the bench they found a different purpose.
The original designs were drawn, pierced by hand with a jeweller’s saw, refined with files, shaped with gravers and finished through countless small decisions that transformed currency into story.
The silver ceased to measure value.
Instead, it began to carry meaning.
Collector Reflections
Over the years the Midnight Gathering found homes across the world.
Collectors often spoke of the piece in remarkably similar ways.
Not as jewellery alone.
But as a reminder.
A reminder of loved ones.
A reminder of friendship.
A reminder that wonder survives even during difficult times.
For many wearers, the gathering beneath the moon became a gathering of memories.
Legacy Within the Collection
The influence of Midnight Gathering can still be found throughout the workshop.
Its spirit lives on in later designs including:
- Moon Gazing Hares Together
- Together in the Moonlight
- Leaping Moon Hare
- Spirit of the Place
- Looking for Joy
- The Moon and Stars Collection
Each explores a slightly different aspect of the same idea.
That there is beauty in pausing to look upward.
Journey Through Time
Late 19th & Early 20th Century
Silver coins are struck and enter circulation.
2014
The Midnight Gathering of Moon Gazing Hares is introduced to the collection.
2014–Present
The piece travels to collectors across Britain and beyond.
Today
Preserved within the Hairy Growler Archive as one of the defining moon hare designs.
Archive Notes
This page preserves the story of a piece that helped shape the Hairy Growler world.
While individual examples may occasionally reappear through commissions, private collections or special workshop releases, the original design now belongs to the archive.
Its story remains part of the living history of the workshop.
The Gathering Continues
Once these coins passed endlessly from hand to hand.
At the bench they were given pause.
The silver became hares.
The hares gathered beneath the moon.
And somewhere, on a windowsill, beside a woodland path, or beneath a star-filled sky, they are still gathering now.
Sen –
Delightful!
I love this piece – it is so simple yet tugs at the heartstrings.