This book studies forty-six pieces of European jewelry - pendants, reliquaries,amulets, and talismans - from the eighth to the eighteenth century.

This book studies forty-six pieces of European jewelry - pendants, reliquaries, amulets, and talismans - from the eighth to the eighteenth century. The title "The thing of mine I have loved the best" comes from the medieval will of an English duchess who bequeathed a reliquary jewel to her son. It expresses the sentiment that jewels appealed (then