Heavy may receive a commission if you purchase a product through a link on this page.

21 Best Cremation Jewelry Pieces for 2023

Since cremation, as we know it today, has only been around a few short decades, this new style of memorial jewelry has turned the idea of Victorian mourning jewelry into more of a celebration of life. Pretty and functional urn necklaces allow you to keep just a tiny bit of your loved one’s ashes with you, wherever you go. Pet cremation jewelry has become popular as well.

If you’re looking for a way to carry just a few ashes of the person or pet you’ve cherished most, or want to give one as a sympathy gift, a piece of cremation jewelry can keep memories, and loved ones, close at heart.

Price: $ – $
21 Listed Items

How Do You Keep the Ashes From Falling Out?

That was certainly a concern for me when I starting looking into urn jewelry after my loss. Most pieces use a very short screw to open and close the container and jewelry does tend to go through the type of jostling that would loosen a screw the way a chair does. 

Still, my best advice is to put a dab of glue (any kind. I used craft glue) on the threads of the screw when you're closing it up after adding your ashes. This tiny bit of glue will help prevent any movement. 

It also won't hurt to make note of what "time" the flathead screw head shows to keep track of if it ever starts to move. By time I mean the angle of the flat line of the screw. My necklace screw points to four o'clock (or 11 going by the other side) and hasn't moved from that in the year I've been wearing it.

What's the History of Cremation Jewelry?

While the wearing of cremation jewelry is a fairly new trend, mourning jewelry has a long history stretching back thousands of years. The Egyptians were famous for their jewelry, especially because it was so often designed to help the dead pass on to their next lifetime.

Later on, these memento mori (Latin for "be mindful of death") included skulls, urns, and other death-related iconography, including likenesses of the deceased, names, birth and death dates, and more.

In the middle ages, small memorial boxes and amulets came about. Those said to carry bits of bone, or hair of the saints, and other religious leaders can still be seen today in museums all across Europe. In the 1700s, locket necklaces and rings became a popular way to remember a loved one who had passed, as did jewelry made from intricately woven hair of the deceased.