Brief Summary… 

• Recycled silver, scrap silver coins and detailed silver three pence coins circa 1850’s – 1900’s
• Meticulously hand cut, carved and engraved
• Each link handmade and hammer faceted
• Oak leaves and acorns recycled from coins and uniquely engraved on both sides.
• Made using only traditional hand tools and techniques
• Optional special initials engraved on charm
• Hairy Growler Shepherd’s Crook Necklace Catch: Sterling Silver
• Sizes : small 18.5cm, Med 19.5cm, Large 21cm, XL 23.5cm
• Each link approx 10mm
• Symbolism : strength, endurance, wisdom, virtue, contemplation and wonder of existence.
• Handcrafted & Recycled in Cambridge

A little more detail…

The whole oak sleeps inside the acorn.

A tiny beginning.

A great tree.

And between the two, a lifetime.

Oak Leaves & Acorns is one of those Hairy Growler pieces where the making became almost as important as the finished bracelet.

Every leaf.

Every acorn.

Every link.

Made individually by hand from old silver and historic coins.

Together they form a bracelet about strength, potential, change and the extraordinary amount of life that can begin with something very small.

From Little Acorns

An acorn doesn’t look particularly impressive.

Small enough to hold between finger and thumb, it gives very little indication of what it might eventually become.

Yet contained within it is the possibility of an oak that may stand for centuries.

Roots pushing deep into the earth.

Branches spreading towards the light.

Generation after generation sheltering beneath it.

That is why I think the acorn is such a powerful little symbol.

It isn’t really about what something is.

It is about what something might become.

The Oak

Then comes the leaf.

If the acorn represents possibility, the oak leaf represents what happens when that possibility is given time.

Strength.

Endurance.

Experience.

Growth.

The ability to stand through changing seasons.

For centuries the oak has occupied a particularly important place in the British landscape and imagination.

Ancient oaks became landmarks, meeting places and witnesses to generations of human life.

Some were already old trees while the silver coins used in this bracelet were still being passed from hand to hand.

The oak doesn’t hurry.

Perhaps that is part of its lesson.

Old Silver. Older Stories.

The bracelet begins not with new sheet silver, but with material that has already lived.

Old British silver coins arrive at my bench worn, rubbed and no longer particularly interesting to traditional coin collectors.

I see them rather differently.

A worn coin has evidence of life all over it.

Letters.

Dates.

Edges.

Ghosts of portraits and decoration.

Marks left by decades of circulation.

Instead of melting all of that away, I use the coins themselves as my raw material.

The history stays in the silver.

Leaves Cut from Coins

The old silver coins are first prepared at the bench before the oak leaves are drawn directly onto their surfaces.

Then comes the slow part.

Using a traditional jeweller’s piercing saw, I cut around the tiny outlines by hand.

No stamping machine punches them out.

No computer-controlled cutter makes a hundred identical leaves.

Each one passes through my hands individually.

Once pierced, the leaves are carved and engraved to create their veins, edges and character.

And because bracelets move constantly when worn, I engrave the elements on both sides.

When a leaf turns over on your wrist, there isn’t an unfinished back waiting underneath.

There is another leaf.

The Beauty of the Old Coin

Look closely and occasionally the first life of the silver reveals itself.

A fragment of lettering.

A trace of old decoration.

A surface mark that was already there before I began.

I don’t regard these as imperfections.

Quite the opposite.

They are little interruptions from history.

A reminder that the oak leaf you’re looking at wasn’t always an oak leaf.

Once, it was money.

A Bracelet of Seasons

The oak is never just one thing.

In spring, new leaves unfold.

Through summer, the canopy reaches its fullest expression.

Then come the acorns.

Autumn changes the leaves again.

Eventually they fall.

Yet beneath them lies the possibility of another tree.

The bracelet carries that whole cycle around the wrist.

Beginning.

Growth.

Maturity.

Change.

Beginning again.

Not a straight line, but a circle.

The Acorn and the Oak

There is another reason I like putting the two symbols together.

The acorn and oak allow the same object to speak about two different moments in a life.

One is potential.

The other is experience.

One asks what might happen.

The other carries the marks of what already has.

That makes this a particularly meaningful piece for birthdays, new beginnings, achievements and the great transitions that divide one part of life from another.

It can equally represent a child and parent.

Past and future.

Where you began and what you became.

Two moments belonging to the same tree.

Every Link Begins at the Bench

The leaves may be the obvious stars of the bracelet, but I don’t buy in a generic chain and hang them from it.

The links themselves are individually made and hammer faceted by hand.

Hammering leaves tiny changing surfaces across the silver.

As the bracelet moves, those surfaces catch the light differently.

It gives the piece a slightly irregular rhythm that I could never get from a factory-made chain.

It also means the structure of the bracelet belongs to the same hand as the leaves.

From the smallest link to the largest leaf, it is one piece of work.

The Hairy Growler Shepherd’s Crook

At the end of the bracelet sits another little piece of the Hairy Growler language.

My handmade sterling silver Shepherd’s Crook fastening.

I have always thought it strange to spend hours making a piece of jewellery and then finish it with an anonymous clasp.

So the fastening became part of the design.

Curled, tactile and unmistakably handmade.

Something normally hidden becomes one more detail worth looking at.

Made to Move

This isn’t a bracelet that sits perfectly still.

The leaves turn.

The acorns move.

The handmade links shift against one another.

And the old silver makes a delicate sound as you move your wrist.

There is something rather wonderful about that.

Coins that once jingled in pockets have found a way to make themselves heard again.

Old silver, moving once more.

A Piece That Will Keep Changing

Nothing about an oak suggests that beauty requires remaining unchanged.

Neither does this bracelet.

The silver will develop with wear.

Raised areas will become brighter.

Engraved lines may deepen in contrast.

New marks will gradually join the old marks already carried by the coins.

Years from now it shouldn’t look untouched.

It should look kept.

Worn.

Lived with.

Another layer of history added to silver that already had one.

Make It Yours

A small charm can be engraved with initials, allowing something personal to sit quietly amongst the leaves and acorns.

It doesn’t need to explain itself to anybody else.

Sometimes a couple of letters are enough to hold an entire story.

Product Details

• Hairy Growler Signature Piece
• Original Oak Leaves & Acorns bracelet
• Handcrafted from recycled silver, historic silver coins and reclaimed coin material
• Includes old British silver threepence and sixpence coins, many well over 100 years old
• Additional elements may be created from historic copper and bronze coinage
• Oak leaves and acorns individually drawn, hand pierced, carved and engraved
• Leaf and acorn details engraved on both sides
• Traces of original coin detail may remain visible within individual elements
• Each link individually handmade and hammer faceted
• Oak leaf elements approximately 16 mm maximum width
• Made using traditional jewellery tools and techniques
• Handmade sterling silver Hairy Growler Shepherd’s Crook fastening
• Optional initials engraved onto a small charm
• Available in a range of bracelet sizes
• Small approximately 18.5 cm
• Medium approximately 19.5 cm
• Large approximately 21 cm
• XL and larger sizes available
• Each bracelet is individually made and will vary according to the original coins used
• Symbolism includes potential, strength, endurance, wisdom, growth, resilience and renewal
• Handcrafted and recycled in Cambridge
• Includes a private Signature Piece Passport for its owner

Oak Leaves & Acorns

Once they were coins.

They passed through pockets and palms.

They bought ordinary things on ordinary days.

Eventually their edges softened.

Their details faded.

And their first purpose came to an end.

Then they arrived at my bench.

I flattened the old silver.

Drew upon it.

Pierced the leaves.

Cut the acorns.

Engraved their surfaces.

Made the links.

And joined everything together by hand.

The coins disappeared.

But their silver didn’t.

It became something that has always understood the passing of time.

The oak.

And beside it, the promise of everything still to come.

The acorn.

The whole oak sleeps inside the acorn.

Hear the links and get a feel