Still With Me

Hand-Pierced Two Bird Necklace Made from an Antique Silver Shilling

Some people leave our sight.

They do not always leave us.

Still With Me was created around that quiet idea.

Two birds share the old silver of an antique British shilling. One remains among the branches below. The other has lifted into flight.

They are separated by a little open sky, but they still belong to the same piece.

One has flown onward. One remains. The connection between them is still there.

Still With Me

This is not intended to be a sombre memorial.

It is about something gentler.

The feeling that somebody can be absent and yet continue to accompany us through ordinary life.

A voice remembered unexpectedly.

A phrase they always used.

A place that immediately brings them back.

A habit inherited without noticing.

A story that gets told again.

Sometimes remembrance is not about looking backwards.

Sometimes it is simply the quiet knowledge that somebody remains part of who we are.

Two Birds, One Story

The lower bird sits among leaves, blossom and branches growing from the base of the coin.

Above it, a second bird flies across the open silver.

Neither bird is entirely alone.

The branches reach upward and the flying bird remains within the circle of the original shilling.

That relationship is the heart of the design.

Distance has appeared between them, but the bond has not been broken.

The Bird That Flies Onward

Birds have carried meanings of freedom, spirit, journey and return for generations.

In Still With Me, the bird in flight can represent someone who has moved beyond the life we once shared with them.

It does not disappear beyond the edge of the piece.

It remains within the old silver circle.

Still part of the story.

The Bird That Remains

The second bird rests among living branches.

It represents the life that continues here.

The leaves still grow. Flowers still open. Seasons continue to turn.

There is sadness within that idea, but there is strength too.

Continuing does not mean leaving somebody behind.

Made from Old Silver

Still With Me begins with an original antique 150 year old British Sterling silver shilling.

Before becoming jewellery it existed for well over a century as money, passing through countless unknown hands before eventually finding its way to my bench.

I do not melt the coin down and erase that history.

I work within it.

The original circular edge and date are retained while the surrounding silver is carefully removed using a fine jeweller’s saw.

The birds, leaves, branches and tiny details are all part of the original coin.

Nothing has been stamped into the centre. The scene has been released from the silver that was already there.

Hand Pierced at the Hairy Growler Bench

The design is first worked out around the restrictions of the original shilling.

Small entry holes are drilled into the areas that need to disappear.

A fine saw blade is threaded through each opening and the unwanted silver is cut away one section at a time.

The birds are refined, feathers engraved, leaves shaped and the branches brought to life before the whole piece is finished by hand.

It is slow work.

That matters.

A piece concerned with memory should never feel hurried.

A Personal Talisman

Still With Me can carry different meanings for different people.

• In memory of a mother or father
• For a grandparent whose influence remains
• For a partner, sibling or close friend
• To mark an anniversary or significant date
• As a reminder of somebody living far away
• As a symbol of love that has changed form rather than disappeared

It does not need to explain itself to anybody else.

Its meaning can remain entirely between the wearer and the person they carry with them.

The Old Shilling Matters

There is something particularly fitting about making this design from an old coin.

The silver itself has survived.

It carries more than a century of scratches, softened edges and tiny marks from a life we can no longer trace.

That history is not polished completely away.

I want you to know that this was once something else.

Because Still With Me is, in many ways, about exactly that.

Things change. Their meaning can remain.

Product Details

• Handcrafted from an original antique British silver shilling
• Coin shown dated 1871
• Two bird design, one resting and one in flight
• Hand pierced branches, leaves and floral detail
• Original coin edge and date retained
• Traditional jeweller’s saw piercing
• Fine hand engraved detailing
• Individually finished at the Hairy Growler bench
• Natural wear and marks from the original coin are retained where possible
• Each piece will have its own small handmade variations

From Currency to Heirloom

This shilling was once ordinary money.

It travelled through a world that has almost completely disappeared.

Now two birds live inside it.

One resting.

One flying onward.

Still separated by open sky.

Still held within the same circle.

Still with me.