Most people would be hard pressed to think of a more versatile piece of jewelry than charms. These delicate yet often very elaborate miniature pieces can be used on charm bracelets, added to hoop earrings or even attached to necklaces as pendants. Silver charms and gold charms alike are popular either as unique additions to a bracelet or chain or as part of a collection of charms.

Mixing and matching different types of charms with each other on bracelets is one of the fun aspects of charm bracelets. There are no hard and fast rules about what you can or cannot do with your charm collections and silver and gold charms can easily be used on the same bracelet or kept completely separate. Adding both types of metal charms to your bracelet means it can easily be matched with anything you may decide to wear.

The earliest recorded use of charms and charm bracelets dates way back to the early times of the Egyptian Pharaohs. In these times gold charms were used to bring good luck or ward off bad spirits and were considered essential rather than just fashionable. Metals as well as other materials were used in designing these types of gold or silver charms and the bracelets would stay with the wearer even into death.

Later on in Roman times, charms were used by early Christians as a way to secretly identify each other. The symbol was, as it still is today, the simple fish outline. Those that studied Jewish law would insert small rolls of parchment containing scripture into amulets worn about the neck, similar to charms or lockets of today.

Charms continued to be used to keep away bad spirits even into the Middle Ages and up to the Renaissance period. Some of these types of gold and silver charms were very detailed and became the modern good luck charms still in use.

Queen Victoria of England again revitalized the charm bracelet and the use of charms as a fashion accessory in the early 20th century. Charms that included family crests, flags and landmarks from different countries became very popular.

Soldiers returning home from World Wars l and ll often brought back small charms from different countries and areas of the world they visited. Local jewelers catered to this growing market by making easy to recognize symbols from different areas. Wives, girlfriends and mothers in the United States often had charms from many different countries on their charm bracelets.

Now modern charms come in a variety of materials. While most are metal they also have additions of cut glass, crystal, semi-precious and precious gems and even different types of beads. There is no doubt that charm bracelets and charms of different types are definitely here to stay.