PROBABLY SCOTTISH, POSSIBLY 7TH OR 8TH CENTURY, REMOUNTED CIRCA 17TH CENTURY | ‘Charmstone’ Pendant

Inventory, 1949, 'PENDANT, oval rock crystal, silver mounted' in the Strong Room

This intriguing rock crystal object may have been used as a 'charmstone'. It follows the same form as the famous Glenorchy Charmstone in the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh (H.NO 118). Like the Glenorchy Charmstone, it may once have adorned an early reliquary: a rock crystal of similar form adorns the famous St Fillan Coigreach (reliquary in the shape of a Crozier) in the National Museums of Scotland (13th century, inv. no. H.KC 2). The Glenorchy Charmstone is thought to date to the 7th or 8th centuries, and functioned as an amuletic talisman for the Campbells of Glenorchy in Argyll. It was believed to counteract witchcraft and to cure sickness, and was worn by Sir Colin Campbell in the 15th century when he fought the Turks at Rhodes. The Spetchley pendant may well be later in date but probably also came from a reliquary (given its shape). It is a tantalising theory that it too was once used as a charmstone in the distant past.