Snakes, snakes, snakes

I love snake jewellery. I first wrote about snakes in jewellery in my third post on this blog and then wrote about new pieces I had found almost every year after that. However, my last snake post was in 2022 so it is certainly time to look at some more examples.

Worn as jewellery, snakes have come to symbolise infinity and eternal love. The ouroboros, the snake circling round to bite its tail, forms a never-ending pattern of birth, life, and death, as depicted in the bloodstone intaglio below, with a monogram circled by a snake. Two snakes can also be seen forming the top of the fob, with the heads framing the sides of the piece.

Snakes continue to be used in jewellery today. The photo below is of a vintage gold ring of a single headed snake ring set with diamonds in its crest and rubies in its eyes.

I found this pretty 9ct gold bangle with two entwined snakes forming the band and resting their diamond set heads on the top.

But this modern snake necklace is the most spectacular. Comprising 24 facetted citrines with little diamond set flowers between each citrine, the head of the snake is covered in diamonds, apart from rubies for the eyes and another citrine for the crest. Again, the snake is biting its own tail. It’s a substantial piece.