Skeleton Key — Frozen Charles Antique Bisque Assemblage Necklace

Charles didn't get the key that he needed in life. The crucial door that would have saved Charlotte was the very same one that would have saved himself. He drove her poor, frozen body home. He kept her necklace. He wore the grief of her loss until it wore him through, like driving snow wearing through stone — slowly, completely and without mercy. When the chill finally took him too, they were finally, quietly, together.

And, so, I gave him the key.

When I build these pieces, I think about what the story owes to the person in it. Charles ended up on the wrong side of the most important door of his life and had no key. When I found that old brass skeleton key — the kind that looks like it has already opened something important — I knew it belonged to him. The keyhole escutcheon below it is intentional as well. A key without a lock is just a charm. Together they mean something more: passage, permission, the thing finally granted. The ribbons are the softness of it — white and cream and gold, because arriving somewhere you have waited for your whole life should feel like that. And the crystal drop at the bottom is the weight of it. The ending of his love story.

He is authentic antique German bisque, circa 1850s — pale, still, cast in a single unjointed piece the way all the early ones were. I attached him onto an ornate vintage golden key, a small angel wing at his side, a skull presiding at the top. And, because death was the door that finally opened, he hangs from a black silk sari ribbon. He is going somewhere now.

Read the full story: Frozen Charles – My Nostalgic Soul

Details

• Authentic antique German bisque Frozen Charles doll, circa 1850s
• Ornate antiqued silver scroll mount with skull bail and small angel wing
• Large antique brass skeleton key bound with layered white, cream, and gold silk ribbons
• Antiqued silver keyhole escutcheon plate
• Large faceted dark crystal drop
• Black silk sari ribbon necklace
• One of a kind — you will receive the exact necklace shown
• Handmade with love in my cottage studio in Kansas

From My Nostalgic Soul to yours. — Gwendalynn Grey