Silver keychain with black and white rhinestone turtle

A black and clear rhinestone turtle keyring, set edge to edge

The shell is where the work went. Flat hexagonal plates set with black and clear rhinestones sit side by side, one colour then the other, so the pattern is carried by the contrast itself and not by any drawn outline. The wider hexagon in the middle takes iridescent stones that swing from pink to green to blue as your hand moves. A plain black band, with no stones in it, closes the rim and stops the whole thing blurring together from across a room.

Clasp, swivel and the 6.5 cm it measures

The hardware is plain and sensible: a wide lobster clasp, a barrel swivel under it, then a round split ring. The swivel is the part worth knowing about, because it lets the turtle turn instead of twisting the strap it hangs from.

Turn it over

The back is plain metal, and the rows of open claw settings that grip each stone sit in plain view across it. Nothing is engraved or printed on that side, which also makes it the face that will rest against leather or cloth once the charm is clipped on.

The eyes, the claws and the tail

Two small black dots mark the eyes on either side of the domed head. Each foot finishes in three black claws, and that is what gives the silhouette its walking stance. The tail is left bare: smooth metal, tapered to a point, the only part of the upper side without a stone on it.

Next to the rest of the range

On a key ring it stays compact enough to drop into a coat pocket; on a bag it gets spotted for its black and clear contrast rather than its size. If you want to compare before choosing, every listing in the key chains aisle spells out shape, colour and finish, which saves a good deal of guessing.

The same turtle shape turns up elsewhere in the shop as a brooch. Those fasten with a magnet rather than a clasp, so they sit on a lapel instead of hanging from a set of keys.