The Good: Solid, Very nice looking, Seems to remain sealed under any conditions
The Bad: Tarnishes, Somewhat expensive, Very narrow opening
The Basics: Following the death of our beloved cocker spaniel, the Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant became a solemn and stylish way for my wife and I to commemorate her!
The regular readers of my blog know that almost a year ago now, Mitzie, the geriatric cocker spaniel who came to live with me when I fell in love again (she was the constant companion of the woman who is now my wife!) died almost a year ago. This milestone fills me with sadness, more than I thought I would ever feel for the death of an animal, especially one I did not know all that long. I only had two years of Mitzie’s life, but we would run around the house together (the Mitzie 500!), she would curl up in the sunlight with my cats, and she would accompany my wife and I to the Chinese restaurant where she would wait patiently in the car for my wife to bring her out an ice cream cone and for me to sneak out bacon-wrapped crabmeat. With so much else going on in my life, I sometimes forget how fun that tired old gal was.
What I never forget is how much I loved Mitzie. Part of the reason for that is that for every major occasion or outing in the life of my wife and I, Mitzie comes with us. No, we’re not morbidly carrying around the urn we bought for her to house most of her remains. But we do have a discrete amount of Mitzie in the Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant I bought for my wife immediately after Mitzie died and she wears the pendant frequently.
The Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant is a small piece of jewelry that allows you to carry the ashes of one you have lost close to your heart at all times. The Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant is 1 3/8” tall and 7/16” in diameter at its widest point. As the name suggests, the Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant is made of sterling silver and it is shaped like a traditional urn, save that the bottom is rounded instead of flat. This makes perfect sense as one will wear the pendant, not leave it on a shelf (presumably). The Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant is roughly egg-shaped and features a wide ring at the top of the pendant from which you may secure the pendant to a necklace (which is not usually included with the pendant).
My wife chose the Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant because Mitzie was her best friend for fourteen years. As I knew from the second season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (reviewed here!), the Claddagh symbol is an ancient Irish insignia representing undying love. This makes the Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant an appropriate choice for those who want to carry around their loved one’s ashes. The Claddagh symbol – two hands touching around a stylized heart underneath a crown – is embossed on the Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant on opposite sides at the thickest point on the urn. At the bottom tim of the pendant is the Celtic Knot symbol. The detailing is fine enough to be instantly recognizable by those who know what the symbol is.
As far as I can tell, there are only two real issues with the Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant, which seems to be surprisingly watertight, despite not having that as a selling point or having a top that includes any rubber. The negative side of this is that the opening to the Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant is very small, only about 1/8” in diameter. The top screws off easily enough, but when you need to add ashes to the urn, it is a very difficult task. First, because of the size of the opening, you must use only the most pulverized ashes. Anything larger than dusty ash will not fit through the opening. Second, you will probably need to use some form of funnel, as the rounded bottom makes it very hard to support the urn pendant and pour your beloved’s ashes into the tiny hole. If you do not have a funnel, rolled paper works, but it helps to perform this exercise with a professional detachment or dispassion that most people going through loss do not have. If you are crying and trying to fill the pendant, you are likely to make the dusty remains of your beloved stick to the “funnel” and/or not fit through the hole (seriously, a tear-sized ash particle acts like mud and will not fit into this pendant). Finally, you want to be sure not to over-fill the pendant. While the urn has more space than you might think, the cap needs to be able to screw back down into the urn and if you overfill it, you may have to pour some of your beloved’s ashes back out and, again, this can be traumatizing to one who has just been through a profound loss. That said, once the Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant is screwed closed, I have never found it to loosen or fall/break open. This is a surprisingly durable pendant.
It’s also sterling silver, which is actually a slight drawback. The Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant tarnishes because it is sterling, not stainless silver. That means that the shiny, lustrous metal that allows one to commemorate their beloved animal slowly dulls and fades. While this might be a wonderful metaphor for the pain of loss fading, I suspect that the pendant tarnishes far faster than the pain fades. Moreover, I hate to think of the metaphoric implications of buffing the pendant back to brightness!
Despite the two drawbacks, the Celtic Knot Claddagh Urn For Ashes Sterling Silver Jar Pendant is a truly lovely way to commemorate a lost loved one, be they animal or human. I know that whenever I think of going forward in life with my wife, but not Mitzie, it actually makes me very happy to see the pendant on my wife. That way, whatever new experience we share together, we get to feel like Mitzie is included. That is a priceless sense of sentiment and this pendant delivers that nicely.
For other reviews related to Mitzie, please be sure to check out:
Purina One SmartBlend Lamb & Rice
Senior Greenies
Kong Peanut Butter Stuff’N
6.5/10
For other reviews, please visit my index page for organized listings of all I have reviewed by clicking here!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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