About 45 years ago or so when I was listening to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Thin Lizzy and many other wonderful bands of the 70’s I bought an “Ankh”, the Egyptians called it the “The Key of Life”. The origins of this has been debated for years but to me it was known as a “Peace Cross” and any hippy worth their soul had to get one and so I did. I don’t remember where I bought it, but I do know that it is made of Pewter which is quite a soft metal and so the small circle at the top would often break and I’m very lucky that I still have it in my possession and so because of this I decided to get one made from silver.
At the bottom of Moss Street in Paisley there used to be a jewelers and this is where I went with my pewter Ankh and asked them to make me a silver one. After a week I went back to pick it up and to be honest I was a little bit disappointed because it was bigger than the pewter one and I felt that it was too big but I said nothing and stuck it on my neck. I have always enjoyed this simple symbol along with the celtic cross but I chose this basically because it said I was a hippy and it made me cool.
In 2016 I set out on my big adventure and a few weeks before I left I lost by silver Ankh of 40 years or more somewhere on the Brisbane bike path from Fig Tree Pocket to Southbank. When I got back to my car the silver chain was tucked inside my shirt but my Ankh was nowhere to be seen and so I hope whoever found it has taken good care of it and I hope that it will look after them as my Ankh looked after me.
A few weeks ago my gold chain that I got from my mother broke and so I took it to get fixed and at the same time asked how much it would be to have a new Ankh made. I gave them my old pewter original and a week later they presented me with lovely replica in silver and it actually is a replica this time. I’m very happy with the outcome of this and it looks as delicate as the original, my last one had been made that bit bigger and to be honest I always felt that it was always a little too big.
After my Ankh was made in the 70’s I went back to the jewelers some time later and I got another trinket made up and this was very controversial, it was “666” In 1976 the movie called “The Omen” came out and freaked many folk out. Damien was the devils child and he had 666 on his skull. Iron Maiden released an album called “The number of the Beast” in 1982 and so by this time my Devils number had become more mainstream.
When I went to party’s it would sometimes cause a stir for the religious fraternity. Now what I used to find hilarious was that the crucifix wearing individuals were the ones that wanted to kick my head in because I had the devils number around my neck and these are the same folk that preach peace and love and the like on a Sunday. The hypocrisy of religion was on show for all to see and I used to take great delight winding them up, maybe I was the evil one after all. I think my “666” necklace was definitely one of the best conversation starters that I ever had. But this too disappeared shortly after I arrived in Australia in 1988, I have no idea when and where I was when I lost it. One day it was there and then the next thing you know I realised that it was gone. I wonder if anyone ever found it………..