'Since then, I have built up a collection of about 200 — the oldest of which dates from about 3000BC': Despite its scarcity and significance, this type of jewellery is among the least expensive
Whether humble, elaborate or very rare, amulets tend to have huge personal significance, ranging from sentimental to spiritual.
My first visit, now many years ago, to Jaipur in India, the jewellery capital of the world, could not have gone better. A private audience with Princess Diya of Rajasthan to view emeralds and rubies in the palace treasury. Excursions to Gem Palace, Amrapali, Surana and many of the other great Indian jewellery houses. Countless opportunities to handle and even wear breathtakingly beautiful (not to mention priceless) jewels. Endless perambulations through the noisy, colourful Johari Bazaar — the city’s old jewellery quarter — a mile-long road with innumerable side streets and alleyways lined with workshops, jewellers and gemstone dealers.
Yet the most satisfying part of the trip was the purchase of a pair of tiny, silver, antique amulets — one of a dog, the other of a lion — for less than £1.
The trader who sold them to me explained that amulets such as these date from 1800 onwards and were die-stamped from melted-down coins, then activated by a priest, monk or shaman.
The dog is the vahana (vehicle) of Bhairava, the fearsome aspect of Shiva, and warns of danger. The lion is the vahana of the goddess Durga and springs to the owner’s defence.
They are worn next to the skin by Hindus and Buddhists alike (in these and many other religions, body contact is considered a form of passive worship) as protection against evil spirits, disease, accidents, curses and every imaginable type of misfortune.
These 19th century, Indian Navaratna pendants with nine stones, set in gold, symbolise the planets of the solar system. Jewellery created in this style has important cultural significance in many southern, and south-eastern Asian cultures and is claimed to yield health and wellbeing benefits.
Since then, I have built up a collection of about 200 amulets — the oldest of which dates from about 3000BC — none of which was especially costly.
Given how highly prized the items the medievalist Sandra Hindman calls ‘meaningful jewels’ are, it is ironic that they also tend to be among the least expensive. Amulets are, in this respect, the epitome of affordable luxury.
Anyway, like Elvis Presley (who is famously reputed to have said: ‘I don’t want to miss out on heaven due to a technicality’), I often wear several amulets simultaneously. I certainly wouldn’t dream of undertaking an important journey without my St Christopher’s medal (he is the patron saint of travellers) or of stepping onto a boat without my red coral pendant (red coral, according to our sailor forefathers, is made of Medusa’s blood and protects against being shipwrecked).
My most unusual amulet is probably an elf-shot — a Neolithic flint arrowhead mounted in a decorated gold collar — from Denmark. The Vikings believed that supernatural beings called álfar shot the flints at human beings to cause sudden illness and that the best way to prevent this was to suspend one around the neck.
I am also deeply attached to a Mughal Navaratna pendant set with nine gemstones corresponding to the nine celestial bodies of Vedic astrology, which stops malign planetary influence; and a St Paul’s Tongue, mistaken during the Middle Ages for a snake’s tongue (actually a fossilised shark tooth) and used as an antidote to poison.
Logically, of course, the idea that an inanimate object can possess magical or spiritual powers is ridiculous. Nevertheless, I derive considerable comfort from my amulets and feel anxious when I’m not wearing at least one. I’d be embarrassed by this if it weren’t for the fact that I am in excellent company.
Amulets are universal. They are found in almost every culture and in every period of history. Catherine de’ Medici wore an astral talisman made from metals melted during favourable astrological transits, the molten alloy mixed with human and goat’s blood. Charles I sported a jewelled pendant depicting St George slaying the dragon, set with more than 400 diamonds. Wallis Simpson wore a bespoke Cartier charm bracelet with nine gem-set Latin crosses.
Despite all our advances in knowledge and understanding, amulets are in as widespread use today as they ever have been. After all, it is part of the human condition to experience the same uncertainties, challenges and difficult realities of life. Even if one doubts their efficacy, each has its own story; each provides a window into someone else’s world.
Tellingly, one of the most significant collections of amulets in the UK is to be found in the Science Museum. Actually, with the exception of my wedding ring, there are no items of jewellery I value more. This is obviously how Eleanor de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester, felt about a reliquary jewel she bequeathed to her son Humphrey, referring to it, when she wrote her will on August 9, 1399, as ‘the thing of mine I have loved the best’.
This feature originally appeared in the May 20, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.
