Christian Jewelry History

Christian Jewelry

It is easy to see why most people think the main symbol of Christianity is the Cross necklace. Everywhere you look someone is wearing a cross necklace. If they're not wearing a cross necklace then they are wearing cross earrings, cross rings or even cross pins.

It is easy to see why Christians have held onto the Cross as a symbol of their faith. Symbols represent feelings, meanings, actions and activities. The Cross is iconic in that it represents the suffering on the Cross. This is huge in the Christian world and it in Christian Jewelry.

But historically the Cross wasn't used as a Christian symbol to begin with.

The first real Christian symbol and still a popular piece of jewelry in the Christian jewelry arena is the Christian Fish. Also know as the Ichthus, Ictus or Icthus. The symbol of the fish is most likely derived from the symbolism of the fish in the teaching of Jesus and the stories about Fish and Bread feeding the thousands.

The early Christians were persecuted and they had to live discreetly and not call attention to themselves. The Christian fish was used as a sign to represent the Christian faith. It was used to identify fellow Christians. They used the symbol to show where meeting places were held. They used it by drawing have a fish in the sand. Like a secret handshake, if the other person was a Christian they would draw the other half of the fish in the sand and then they would know they were in the company of fellow believers.

Much more could be said about the Christian fish and how important it is in the collection of Christian jewelry. The popularity of the Christian Fish in Christian jewelry has waxed and wained over time. It really should be more popular in the relm of Christian jewelry considering the historicity of the the symbol.

But around the time of the official formation of the Christian Church or Catholic church give or take a few hundred years the Cross symbol became very popular. The symbolism of the cross was and still is two fold. There is the Cross and the Crucifix which is a Cross with Jesus on it.

Most Christian seem to prefer to the plain cross in the use of Cross necklaces. This assertion is back by market studies as to what people look for when buying Cross necklaces.

The Cross necklace was worn by priests and Church officials early on in the hostory of the Christian Church and as the Protestant movement gained momentum the plain Cross necklace gained even more popularity. It wasn't long until members of the early Christian Churches were wearing the Cross necklace fashioned crudely out of wood and string or leather cords.

Now days Christian jewelry is made out of many different materials including wood and leather. But of all the base metals and precious metals the most common material the Cross Necklace is made from is Sterling Silver.

The largested collection of sterling silver cross necklaces online is found at HandCraftedCollectibles.com.