S925 Silver Three-legged Toad Pendant

The Big Dipper sits on the toad's back: seven stars laid out along the run of the handle, placed to either side of the spine rather than down the centre. This is where the figure is most often got wrong: seven stars in a straight line turn the toad into a centipede. The coins in the mouth follow a rule as well. They need square holes, they are strung together and they hang from the mouth, how far depending on the size of the toad. The number of coins varies by region, three or five, and three is the most common. The string itself is cut as a fine line pressed across the lower lip.

This one has no bell and no ornament on the body. A plain body is judged entirely on form. The arc of the spine has to be high, the forelegs have to brace against the ground steadily, and the three feet have to land as a triangle, so that the creature stands. Done badly, the toad looks like a stone lying on the ground. The warts have to be even as well: even, and they read as toad skin; one large and one small, and they become scars, and a scar on the back looks wrong from every angle. The belly has to be round, round enough to look as though it were full of coins. A flat belly is a frog. The hind legs are tucked under the body with only the bend of a knee showing, which makes this a seated toad rather than a crouching one.

The eyes are two raised beads, with no pupils cut into them, since pupils make the face dull. The corners of the mouth pull back, which is the shape of a toad's mouth and also the shape of a smile, and whoever looks at it supplies the feeling. The toes of the forelegs have to be separated, and three toes are enough; more than that smears into a lump at this size, and fewer turn into claws. The warts run from behind the neck all the way to the tail, growing smaller toward the back. The nose is a small triangle, pressed shallow, and light picks it out.

The pendant hangs at the chest, where it is more visible than a ring. Whether the toad's mouth should face out or in has support in folk usage both ways: facing out, it carries money in, and facing in, it keeps what is already there. I will not advise you. Wear it the way that feels natural, and nothing happens if you wear it the other way round. What does happen, if you keep turning it over, is that the loop works loose, and a loose loop makes the pendant hang crooked. The loop is set on top of the head between the two ears, exactly centred, so that the piece hangs true.

The raised surfaces of silver are polished by clothing while the recesses darken, and the two tones together are what give the warts their relief. Do not polish the whole piece at once; polished flat, it turns into a silver bean. Store it in its own pouch, because the forelegs are the thinnest part and bend at a touch. If one does bend, do not force it back: silver has a memory, and pushing it past the point will break it at the root of the toe. Bright on the high points, dark in the hollows. That contrast is produced by wearing, and it looks more natural than anything a cloth can do.