Medallions and lockets are small metal boxes worn around the neck that can hold small mementos such as photographs or locks of hair. Lockets were traditionally used to hide pictures of loved ones, while mourning lockets contained hair from a deceased loved one. Today, lockets are often used to carry photos and can even contain removable sections for multiple pictures.
Medallions are small metal boxes such as silver or gold, in which the wearer can place small photographs, a lock of hair, or another small memento. They are usually worn on a chain around the neck, but can also be hung from a barrette clasp.
Lockets are traditional items of jewelry and evocative of Victorian sentimentality. Victorian ladies might wear lockets to hide a picture of their boyfriend or the man they wanted to be their boyfriend. If the loved one offered a lock of her hair to cherish it, the romantic situation could be considered quite dire, and a marriage proposal is expected shortly. Medallions as gifts were considered a statement of intent.
A more somber locket was the mourning locket, which contained a lock of hair from a deceased loved one. In the 19th century, with its rigid social structure, mourning had some very different observations. One was that a widow must wear black for a whole year after losing her spouse, only to be able to wear the softer colors, like mauve and gray, at the end of the first year. During this period, mourning jewelry was the only type of jewelry allowed. Any other adornment would be seen as disrespectful to the deceased.
Mourning jewelry may include a locket containing a miniature of the deceased, a brooch containing a lock of their hair, and possibly a cameo of a sadly fitting subject, such as a draped angel slumped over a grave.
Today’s lockets have no such connotation and are often simply a convenient way to carry a photo or two of your first grandchild, for example. Lockets made specifically for proud moms and grandmas even contain a long removable section into which multiple photos can be inserted.
And of course, with the advent of ‘flash memory’ modules that allow you to store lots of images on a lanyard around your neck, it’s only a matter of time before some clever manufacturer comes out with flash drive medallions with jewelry, where you can store all your photos of your kids, pets, and anything else to access wherever you go.
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