This is another fun bracelet; it has some very unique charms. It tells a modern day love story; let’s hope the story has a happy ending.

The Marriage Manual:

1. It all starts here with the apple. It opens to reveal the famous “original” couple they “swing: out on a hinge to face the world. Swingers, eh?

2. A Stanhope charm. I will do a blog about Stanhopes at another time. Suffice it to say there is a microscopic image in a little lens. Look closely, it’s Queen Liz! Maybe she’s been around since Adam and Eve. (This is not a plug for creationism, by the way)

3. An angel complete with Lyre. Well, this is Valentine’s Day week and the love story continues…could this be a case of limerance?

4. A mailbox for love letters

5. A picture frame for the beloved

6. Sweets for the sweet…what’s love without chocolates?

7. LOVE, plain and simply ornate.

8. Ah yes, he sends flowers

9. Another fabulous charm: open the heart and see the lovers in an embrace, they too, swing, and seem to be separated by a blob of old silver polish—a no-no.

10. Fall in love and bells ring, or so they say.

11. Little chubby cupid keeps them interested in…

12. LOVE. Blue enamel, I Love You. Ribbed heart

13. Another cupid

14. Red enamel heart one side, ornate silver work on the other

15. An “I Love You Spinner.” If you read my blog about why I collect, you will see
an allusion to an I Love You spinner. It was a beloved lost childhood charm. I’ve been buying them ever since. Each side of the disk in the horseshoe frame has a complementary letters that spell, I Love You. When you blow on the disk it spins and the mind perceives the words

16. Wedding shoe opens, the bride and groom are inside

17. The happy couple. Mechanical groom tips to the bride to give her the ring

18. Antique small heart, can’t have enough love

19. And here he is, the kid! The perfect mechanical self-feeding baby . Bottle goes up,bottle comes down. Cute, huh?

20. Mechanical bank, money in, money out. Sound familiar?

21. Our middle class couple finally get the house, but can they pay the mortgage??
they are trying to furnish it. Look into it from above—it opens so you can be a peeping Tom,
or look through the windows and risk arrest. There are 2 blue enamel chairs and a yellow enamel lamp on a round table between them. Look like they are maintaining the place, the door, windows and chimney are enameled. Wonder what the heating bill is like.

22. A final little angel to look over them. Will they keep the house or move to a condo? Stay tuned!