RETIRED James Avery Flying Balloon Bouquet 925 Silver Charm Pendant

Retired James Avery sterling silver charm in the Flying Balloon Bouquet design, marked 925 with the James Avery candelabra on the reverse. The charm is a thick domed oval carrying a scene in relief: a bunch of balloons clustered at the upper right, each one modeled as a full rounded form with its own highlight, their strings drawn as fine incised lines that gather and converge to a single point low on the face. Two clouds sit at the left and right edges and break past the outline of the oval entirely, so the silhouette of the charm is not a clean oval but something the scene has pushed out of shape.

That decision is what makes this more than a stamped picture. By letting the clouds escape the border, the design turns the charm itself into sky rather than a frame holding a picture of sky, and the balloons rising toward the bail read as genuinely going somewhere. The balloons are finished bright and rounded so they catch light individually while the ground behind them is stippled to a fine granular texture, which drops the background back and throws every balloon forward. The reverse is a plain smooth dome. The Flying Balloon Bouquet is retired and no longer in production.

Hangs on a James Avery charm bracelet or on a chain as a pendant, and the weight of the domed form gives it real presence among lighter charms. Comes with the James Avery box and pouch.

Details:
Designer: James Avery
Metal: Sterling Silver
Hallmarks: 925, JA Candelabra
Design: Flying Balloon Bouquet
Type: Charm Pendant
Status: Retired
Includes: James Avery box and pouch
Condition: Excellent estate condition

Fun Facts:
The first passengers ever carried aloft by balloon were a sheep, a duck and a rooster. The Montgolfier brothers sent them up over Versailles in September 1783 as a test before risking a person, and the sheep was chosen specifically because its physiology was believed close enough to a human's to reveal whether the upper air was survivable. All three came down alive, and the first manned free flight followed two months later.
The rubber balloon was invented as laboratory equipment, not as a toy. Michael Faraday made the first ones in 1824 by pressing two sheets of rubber together, needing a flexible vessel to hold hydrogen for his gas experiments. Toy balloons reached the public the following year, sold as kits people assembled themselves.