White Copper Golden Toad Bell Pendant

The golden toad is a three-legged toad. In the popular image of Liu Hai teasing the golden toad, Liu Hai tempts it with a string of coins, the toad holds a coin in its mouth, and the Big Dipper is on its back. Three legs are the mark: drawn with four, it is no longer a golden toad. The image is everywhere on New Year prints, wood carvings and bronze ornaments, and it is easy to recognise. The seven stars are placed as the Dipper is placed, not simply dotted about. The three-legged toad appears on Han dynasty reliefs, far older than the story of Liu Hai.

The bell is the other half of the ritual kit in Tibetan practice. Bell and vajra are paired: the vajra stands for compassion, the bell for wisdom, and ringing the bell invites the deity and reminds the practitioner. Made into a bell pendant, whether it rings is another matter; the formal origin is here. Bells in China proper are more about decoration and warding off evil, a different set of uses. The handle is usually shaped as a vajra and the body engraved with lotus petals or a seed syllable, and there is a good deal of convention in a single set. In ritual the bell is used with the vajra; ringing it alone is not the complete pair.

The three sizes have their uses. The small one works as a pendant or an earring, the medium for a bag or a set of keys, the large as a car charm or an ornament. A car charm should be kept out of the line of sight; an ornament goes by the door or on a corner of the counter. The sizes differ in more than scale: the wall thickness changes too, and so does the pitch. The large one has a thick wall and a deep note; the small one is thin-walled and shrill, and you can listen when choosing. As an earring the clapper needs fixing, or it rings with every step.

A copper bell makes a sound. There is a clapper inside and it rings at a shake; a dull one usually means the clapper is stuck or there is a burr on the inner wall. If the sound matters to you, ask before buying, and we will shake it for you where we can. For something duller, wrap a turn of fine thread around the clapper and the note drops. A copper clapper wears a groove in time, which does not stop it ringing but does change the sound. If it is too noisy, a little cotton inside muffles it.

A golden toad and a bell in one piece: two subjects layered, one pulling outward and one gathering in. The combination is not common on popular objects, and most people who wear it do so for the fun of it, without needing to carry both meanings at once. Set on a shelf it is a lively little thing to look at. As a gift for a friend in business, the toad side is the better omen.