A little more detail…
The Spirit of the Place
A Hairy Growler Canon Piece
Some places do not end at the edge of the map.
They linger.
In the trees.
In the silence between birdsong.
In the feeling that you have stepped somewhere older than yourself.
The old stories spoke of it often, the belief that certain landscapes hold a presence of their own.
The Story Held in Silver
This piece began as two antique silver shillings.
Coins that once travelled through countless unknown hands.
Carried in pockets.
Passed across market stalls.
Held briefly, then forgotten.
Now they hold something entirely different.
A meeting beneath an opening in the forest canopy where moonlight and stars break through the branches.
Two hares face one another in stillness.
One carries the energy of the wild and untamed.
The other holds quietness, intuition, and moonlight.
Neither dominates.
Together they become part of the landscape itself, as though the forest called them there long before anyone arrived to witness it.
The Meaning
There are moments in certain woods where the world feels thinner.
The trees part.
The night sky appears above you.
And for a second you feel the unmistakable sense that the land is aware.
This piece was created to hold that feeling.
Not merely nature…
but presence.
The spirit of a place that cannot be owned, only encountered.
The Layered Construction
Built from two separate reclaimed silver shillings, this pendant is formed in layers to create genuine depth and shadow.
Front Layer
- Hand pierced woodland frame
- Two meeting hares beneath moon and stars
- Carefully engraved by hand to bring life and movement into the silver
Back Layer
- A deeper forest hidden behind the opening branches
- Darkened recesses creating shifting shadow and atmosphere
- Visible only in fragments, like woodland glimpsed between trees
As light moves across the pendant, the scene changes.
The forest recedes.
The moon emerges.
The silver comes alive.
The Making
Each piece is created slowly at the bench using traditional hand techniques.
- Saw pierced by hand from antique silver shillings
- Layered and assembled individually
- Hand engraved and oxidised for depth
- Finished with a solid silver chain and Hairy Growler hook catch it looks wonderful
- The Copper oak leaf charm symbolising endurance, memory, and rootedness
No casting.
No mass production.
Only old silver, careful hands, and time.
The Heirloom Layer
The silver in this piece has already lived for well over a century.
Its first life belonged to history.
Its second belongs to story.
Every mark carried in the coin becomes part of the final work, a reminder that beauty deepens through time rather than fading from it.
This is not jewellery designed for a season.
It is a future heirloom.
A small landscape to carry with you.
Collector’s Note
Within the Hairy Growler canon, certain pieces emerge that feel less designed and more discovered.
The Spirit of the Place is one of those pieces.
Not simply an image of hares in a woodland…
but an attempt to hold that rare feeling of standing somewhere ancient and sensing, however briefly, that the place itself is alive and watching.
***
She began as money.
A pair of silver shillings moving through the ordinary world unnoticed.
Now she carries moonlight through branches,
the memory of old forests,
and the quiet presence that lingers in certain places long after you leave them.
The spirit of the place remains.
100% Handcrafted & Recycled in Cambridge, UK
Size : Approx 23 mm diameter
Moon gazing hare
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