The Jewelry

Sterling Silver - 14K Gold Vermeil

Circular pendant (30mm diameter) with fish, dancer, and rat motif. 

One "Hoop Lock" is included in the price. Attach it to a necklace, bracelet, or earring you already own or find a new favourite in our collection.

The Story Behind the Design

Besides the city hall of Copenhagen lays the famous Danish tale writer’s statue: the one of Hans Christian Andersen, and next to it, this inspiring and dreamy manhole cover. 

In 1838, the story of The Steadfast Tin Soldier is published in HC’s first booklet of Fairy Tales for Children and in which a single legged tin soldier falls in love with a paper ballerina before being pushed out of the windowsill and put on a paper boat to sail in through the gutters. 

His journey takes him through playful rats and a hungry fish by which swallows him all. This same fish gets then caught by a fisherman and sold to the little boy’s mom on a market. 

Once home, she cut’s the fish open to realise that the tin soldier is laying there, intact. 

Inexplicably, the little boy throws the tin soldier in the fireplace before a mysterious wind draft pushes the paper ballerina in the flames with it. 

The very next day, the tin soldier beautifully melted into a heart, now black as coal, along with the ballerina’s spangle. 

In this design you can admire the four main elements of this story: the ballerina, the fish, the rat, and of course the recognisable silhouette of the writer. But where is the tin soldier, you may wonder? If you walk through Copenhagen you might be able to spot him laying on some of the covers around the city. Send us your pictures if you find it!