Ad Astra Acrostic Necklace

Napoleon is said to have commissioned the first ever ring that used the secret gemstone alphabet to send a message to his love, the Empress Josephine. In this secret language, each gem stands for a letter of the alphabet. A is for Amethyst, D is for Diamond, and so on. 

The Victorians were enchanted by the jewel alphabet, and rings spelling ‘regards’ and ‘dearest’ were the height of fashion in Paris and London in the mid 1800s. There were very few variations on those words due to the lack of gemstones (and perhaps imagination) at the time. 

Sadly, this secret language was slowly forgotten and these pieces can now only be found in antique stores.

Common Era was the first modern brand to revive this charming tradition with the Acrostic Secret Message Collection. 

Rather than remake the traditional words from Victorian times, we’ve crafted your extraordinary piece to spell out the ancient Latin phrase Ad Astra, meaning ‘to the stars’, first penned by the Roman poet Virgil.

This beautiful solid 14k gold necklace is a sweet, secret reminder to persist, to have hope, and to reach ever further in the pursuit of joy.