My grandmother owned eleven photographs of my grandfather. I have counted. Eleven, across a marriage of forty-three years, and one of them lived inside a locket she wore every day until she could no longer manage the clasp.

I have roughly four thousand photographs of my own partner, and I could not tell you what is in any of them without scrolling. This is the strange arithmetic that explains why lockets have come back.

Scarcity was the feature, not the limitation

For most of the locket’s history the constraint was technological. Photographs were expensive, small and few. Putting one in a piece of jewellery was simply where you kept it, the way you might keep a letter in a drawer.

That constraint has evaporated, and in evaporating it has turned the locket from a storage device into something closer to an editorial decision. When you own four thousand images, choosing one and trimming it to the size of a twenty cent coin is an act of deliberate narrowing. The object has not changed. The meaning of using it has changed completely.

This is why the revival has not been nostalgic in tone. The pieces selling now are not reproductions of Victorian mourning jewellery. They are plainer, lighter, and built to be worn with a t-shirt rather than kept in tissue paper.

What people actually put inside

Ask around and the answers are rarely what the marketing imagines. A few recurring ones:

• A pet, more often than a partner.
• A parent photographed at the age the wearer is now.
• Handwriting rather than a face. A signature, a word, a line from a note.
• A lock of hair, which sounds morbid until you have held one belonging to a child who has since grown up.
• Nothing at all, kept empty on purpose, which several people described with some embarrassment and no regret.

The empty locket interests me most. It is a container for a decision not yet made, which turns out to be a comfortable thing to wear.

Choosing one that survives being worn

A locket takes more abuse than most jewellery. It has a hinge, a closure that can open under pressure, and a flat face that catches on everything. Three things matter more than style.

The hinge and the closure

A locket should close with a small definite click and stay shut when you shake it gently. A soft, vague closure will open inside a jumper and eventually lose whatever is in it. This is the most common failure and it is detectable in the first ten seconds of handling.

The metal, stated plainly

Daily wear against skin is the hardest test any piece of jewellery faces. Sterling silver and substantial gold layers over a sterling base both handle it. Thin plating over brass does not, and a locket shows wear at the hinge and edges first. Look for listings that name the base metal rather than describing a colour. Demi-fine collections tend to be explicit on this point, which is the main reason they suit something you intend to wear continuously: https://www.lavanajewellery.com.au/collections/heart-lockets

A chain length you will not fight

A locket worn too short rides up towards the collarbone and flips over. Too long and it disappears under clothing, which defeats the purpose. Somewhere around 45 to 50 centimetres suits most people for a piece meant to sit visibly above a neckline, but the honest answer is to measure a necklace you already wear happily and match it.

Getting a photograph to fit

Most lockets arrive with a paper template. If yours did not, trace the inside rim onto paper and cut slightly inside that line. Practical notes learned the hard way:

• Crop tightly to the face before printing. A full scene reduced to 18 millimetres is an unreadable grey smudge.
• Print on matte photo paper. Glossy curls and sticks to the glass.
• High contrast survives the size reduction. Soft, evenly lit images do not.
• Cut with nail scissors and test the fit before trimming further. You cannot add paper back.
• Keep the digital file and the template. You will want to replace the photograph eventually.

Why this particular object persists

Jewellery that means something usually means it by association: who gave it, when, and what was happening at the time. A locket is unusual because the meaning sits inside the object rather than attached to its history. It works on the day you buy it for yourself.

That also makes it one of the few pieces that improves as a gift when the giver leaves it empty, handing over the choice along with the chain. My grandmother’s locket is in a box at my father’s house. There is still a photograph in it. Nobody has ever suggested taking it out.

Frequently asked questions

What size photo fits in a heart locket?

Most heart lockets take an image between 12 and 20 millimetres across, but sizes vary enough that you should trace the inside rim rather than rely on a standard. Cut slightly inside your traced line and test the fit before trimming further.

Can you wear a locket every day?

Yes, provided the metal suits continuous contact with skin and the closure holds firmly. Solid sterling silver or a substantial gold layer over sterling handles daily wear; thin plating over a base metal wears through at the hinge and edges first.

Are lockets still in style?

They have returned steadily over recent years, though in a plainer form than their Victorian ancestors. Current designs are lighter and simpler, intended for everyday wear rather than formal occasions.