White Copper Lucky Slip Cylinder Pendant Necklace

The slip that rattles out of the tube and lands in your hand is read by its grade first. Best, upper, middle, lower: a few characters printed at the head of the slip and the rank is obvious at a glance. The top grade is the first tier, and its verse is usually written smoothly, with no setbacks on the face of it. People are pleased to draw it partly because the tier is rare to begin with. The custom is to make a silent request first and shake the tube after; only the slip that falls counts. Shake it in a hurry and what comes out is often not what you wanted.

In the old days the temples kept these: a bamboo tube of slips, numbered, with an oracle book keyed to the numbers. The verse usually runs to four lines of seven characters, the twenty-eight-character form being the most common, though five-character lines and irregular metres also occur. The number of grades varies from temple to temple, some with five and some with nine. The top grade sits first and is marked with the two characters for best, or sometimes simply as slip number one. The commentary is usually four lines as well: the first two describe the matter and the last two give the advice, and the reader matches it to his own case.

Made as a pendant, the shape taken is the slip itself: a short cylinder, rounded at the head, with three characters cut vertically down the side. The barrel cannot be too thick or it looks like a battery, and it cannot be too thin or the characters will not fit. The hole runs through the top, so once strung the cylinder hangs upright, exactly like a slip standing in its tube. The strokes are filled dark; the base of white copper is pale, and without the fill they would not read. The diameter has to suit the size of the characters, and with three stacked the spacing cannot be cramped.

The middle of the cylinder polishes first, and after a while a bright band appears where the cuff rubs. To bring the matte back, run fine abrasive cloth lightly in one direction, not in circles. The dark in the strokes fades gradually, and when it becomes hard to read, fill it with a toothpick and a little dark pigment and wipe off the surplus. Cord loosens with wear, and once a groove shows at the hole it is time to restring. Do not lay the barrel against anything hard: a round face concentrates pressure and dents easily.

The pendant is a single piece, and the cord is your own choice. The necklace version comes with the chain fitted, sitting below the collarbone with the cylinder against the chest and no tendency to flip. The barrel is finished matte; too bright and it looks like a metal rod and loses the sense of a bamboo slip. The whole measure of this piece lies in the matte finish. Over-polish it and the character is gone. Matte surfaces dislike oil: the oil from your hands leaves a dark patch that cannot be wiped off, only refinished.