[Tidbits] The Puzzle of the Bangle

Good evening folks,

Last week I presented to you a Tidbits entitled: The Puzzle of the
Bangle. I received a rather interesting response from Ms. Sharon
Miklos-Thompson which I thought I’d share. I hope you enjoy it as
much as I did.

And so…

WOW! This is quite a puzzle. Could mean so many things, but I have
some theories.

First off, the letters you give R-E-S-D-P-H-M-L-H-Y. Could spell
Meryl S. Phhd, but it’s highly unlikely the designer said “let me
find objects that start with the letters of my beloveds’ name…” and
then proceeded to make this beautiful piece. If so, why not take the
letters from each of the processes involved and add them too,
hopefully giving us more vowels to work with. It’s more likely that
each image/symbol depicted holds the secrets of the item. Wish I
could see all sides of it for more clues! But what I did see tells me
enough to get certain strong impressions about this item, which I
will try to express here.

First off, I’d say that the bracelet was made by a talented jewelry
artist (or by the artist on behalf of a patron/client) who was or is
in love with a girl who’s name starts with the letter “M”, as
evidenced by the “M” in the box. As a girl who spent countless hours
doodleling the initials of her ‘beloved du jour’ on her notebook,
purse or other close possessions, always embellishing these initials
with hearts, vines, BOXES, etc., I think that’s an easy starting
point. Then there is the heart; it’s obviously in the form of a lock,
a symbol of frustration with feeling unable to get close enough to
the object of his affections. He feels his heart is hopelessly locked
up by this person, who does not necessarily return his love.

There appears to be a blue pear shaped setting, with wings; the pear
shape symbolizes a tear, the wings making it fleeting, as the maker
hopes his sadness will soon be gone. He wants the pain of his longing
to fly far far away. The cottage with the tree is a symbol of wishing
for matrimony or a happy life (or a good lengthy shack up) together
with with his beloved. The bangle design itself is a symbol of a
shackle, as he wishes to lock up this person, not literally of
course, but figuratively; he wants to make her his possession. If
not, why not just make a beautiful charm bracelet? With the resources
to make such a costly item, this person is likely used to getting what
he wants, and finds the pursuit process to be unbearably painful. He
wants to buy her and be done with it, to own her, to lock her up like
one of the other fine things he’s collected, as she is a trophy to
him. If I could see more of this bangle, I would probably have more
theories to share.

I have studied mythology, symbology, dreams, puzzles, meanings of
stones, etc. I am a Portuguese/Greek child of a huge psychic fan, and
an ‘enigma locked within a mystery’ myself (according to my
humanities professor). And let’s just say I get strong impressions
from things, and I do not feel the letters you gave us have any
symbolism as to the maker or the identity of the objects desired
recipient. If you have the answer, would you please share it with us
eventually? Thank you very much for Tidbits, I look forward to
reading it each week!

For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits… click it… and you will see represented on
our pages the image of the bangle in question.

And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark