Island Charm and Barbados Coral

 

The year was 1978, my husband and I were on a tropical sandy beach on an Island in the Caribbean, the island of Barbados.  Carrying a large wooden tray and beaming with the warmest Bajan smile, a local artist and vendor made his way across the warm sand.  As he approached us, he sang out in his melodic island accent; "Hey pretty lady, wood you care to buy a pendant made from real Bajan Coral? Dey made by han. Yes pretty lady?" 
Looking at my husband, his smile grew bigger and his eyes danced impishly, giving his attractractive, cocoa brown face a childlike charm. "Maybe de kine gentalmon woud like to gift de pretty lady wid one of my han made pendants? She very pretty, your lady is."

His flattery was so thick that my husband and I broke out laughing, and he  was so charming it was impossible to refuse. So I took a moment to perused his tray of handmade jewelry and found he had an assortment of shell and coral charms, most of which did not interest me.   Then I spotted the Corni pendant - an Italian symbol of protection against evil and a harbinger of good luck. "Ah pretty lady" he crooned "Dat wood look luvely round your pretty neck."
Both my husband and I had to agree that he was certainly one charmer of a salesman. Needless to say we purchased the coral corni pendant from him. 

Back in the 70's it was not illegal to harvest coral as it was not considered endangered the way coral is today. But that was long ago and since then the "pretty lady" has gotten much older and the lovely coral corni has gone unworn for a number of years.

I've given the pendant a good cleaning, attached it to a sterling silver bail and made a special necklace for it using sterling silver cable chain and finishing the chain with a sterling silver clasp and jumprings. Now I am hoping that this genuine coral pendant will bring another pretty lady good luck and many years of enjoyment.