Precious things

Objects in this class of symbols include single works of contemporary or ancient art or craftsmanship, rare natural objects and single specimens of exotic fauna or rare minerals. Another kind of precious object is one endowed with spiritual power, a human relic or former possession of a spiritually powerful person; or an object removed from a holy place. Related to these are objects said to have fallen from the sky. Personal possessions that have symbolic connotations (other than purely ornamental, expensive jewellery) are wedding bands, pocket and wrist watches, 'lucky pieces' (coin, rabbit's foot, stone, etc), 'charms', handkerchief, pocket mirror, pocket comb, purse or wallet, walking stick (cane), class ring, jacket buttons, umbrella, 'executive' brief case, and photographs. Any personal possession of a deceased family member has symbolic value as well.

Some of the foregoing represent 'status symbols'; others reflect magical belief in the power of unique objects. The quintessential expression of the latter superstition is the retention of the scalp or skull of one's enemy, or the burial, beneath one's house, of the bodies of the parents or ancestor, or more currently, the keeping of the urn containing the ashes of a cremated loved one, human or animal. According to the theory of magic one may invest an inanimate object with one's life force, e.g. a tree or a statue, and to some extent at least personal possessions do represent one's life.