Today’s review features the gorgeous Galactic Necklace available exclusively at ThinkGeek. The multi-strand necklace features classic Star Wars planets represented with colourful exotic stones, with starfighters flying between them. This beautiful necklace caught my eye the day it was released, and it is even better in person!
The Star Wars Galactic Necklace highlights some of the more famous planets from galaxies far, far away. Looking at the necklace straight on, at the farthest left we start with a few Core Worlds (Coruscant and Alderaan) and then we move off into the Outer Rim Territories, including mostly planets but also a few of everybody’s favorite moons and an asteroid belt. And, of course, the Death Star. This comes in a lovely box, ready to gift, with a key inside the lid like one you’d find in a box of chocolates.
The necklace is exclusive to ThinkGeek, and is priced at US$39.99 each – ThinkGeek can ship internationally, which is great!
Star Wars Galactic Necklace – US$39.99 each
The necklace comes packaged inside a black gift box with lift-off lid. The top of the lid features the classic Star Wars logo printed in white, while the bottom of the box has the standard Disney, Lucasfilm and SalesOne/Body Vibe company information. The inside of the lid has a lovely printed section which describes the necklace, and (very helpfully) has a list of all the Star Wars planets represented in the necklace, each with a short a description.
The necklace is secured to a white cardboard insert inside the box, held in place with white twist-ties at 4 points. This keeps the necklace arranged in place while in the box to avoid tangling, which is always helpful with multi-strand necklaces. Printed on the insert are all the Star Wars planet names, along with the stones used. As noted on the insert, the ‘Coruscant’ bead is hidden behind and not seen when boxed, as it is higher up the chain. The cardboard insert has 2 notches at the top corners for holding the chains, so you can use the box for storing your necklace while not wearing it.
Removing the twist-ties, you can remove the necklace from the box and get a full look. The Galactic Necklace features chains made from Silver-plated 316L surgical stainless steel, strung between the pendants and beads. There are 11 Star Wars locations included in the design – Coruscant, Death Star, Hoth, Endor, Alderaan, Tatooine, Sullust, Dagobah, Yavin 4, Bespin, Astroid Belt, as well as an X-Wing Fighter and a TIE Fighter.
The stones are a beautiful range of colours, with tones of silver, green, blue, yellow, orange, red, white, and brown. Each Star Wars planet has been thoughtfully represented with a stone matching its predominant colour appearance – green Malaysian Jade for the lush jungle planet of Yavin 4, for example.
While it could have been easy to use plastic beads for this necklace, the exotic stones add a much more interesting and beautiful element to the design. The multi-strand design keep the beads and pendants well spaced while wearing, allowing each stone and pendant to ‘float in space’ in relation to each other. The strands are arranged in an asymmetrical layout, which really works with the galaxy theme – planets aren’t arranged in perfect order in space.
Every location from the Original Trilogy is represented, which is impressive!
- A New Hope – Tatooine, Death Star, Yavin 4 (and Alderaan)
- The Empire Strikes Back – Hoth, Dagobah, Astroid Belt, Bespin
- Return Of The Jedi – Tatooine, Dagobah, Endor
Also included is Sullust (mentioned by Darth Vader in Return Of The Jedi), and of course Coruscant, which is such an important location in the Star Wars saga. Each stone is so pretty in person, I can’t pick a favourite! Here’s a closer look at each stone and pendant, going roughly left to right –
- Coruscant – Hematite
- Death Star – Silver-plated 316L surgical stainless steel with antiqued finish
- Alderaan – Phoenix Stone (misprinted on the inner box lid as ‘Phoneix’)
- Tatooine – Yellow Agate
- Yavin 4 – Malaysian Jade
- Asteroid Belt – White Turquoise and Tiger Eye
- X-Wing Figher pendant – Silver-plated 316L surgical stainless steel and Black Rhinestones
- TIE Fighter pendant – Silver-plated 316L surgical stainless steel
- Dagobagh – Phoenix Lapis
- Sullust – Faceted Red Agate
- Hoth – White Turquoise
- Bespin – Orange Agate
- Endor – Alge Stone
The back of the Death Star and TIE Fighter pendants feature Lucasfilm copyright stands, noting this is an officially licensed item. While the front of the Death is a 3D sculpt, the back is flat and hollowed out to reduce weight (it is the heaviest of the pendants/stones). The Death Star pendant serves as an anchor for helping space out the strands from each other – it has 5 chains attached to it (2 above, 3 below).
The necklace closes with a silver-tone ‘lobster claw’ style clasp, and a length of wider link adjustment chain. As the multi-strand design covers a larger area of your neckline than a standard single-strand necklace, it is very helpful to be able to adjust the placement to your personal preference while wearing. The silver-tone chains have a lovely bright finish that really compliments the exotic stones. As with other multi-strand necklaces, I keep this necklace on a small jewelry display stand, to avoid tangling or knocking the stones together.
The necklace measures approximately 46.5cm long, with a further 7.5cm of adjustment chain.
This is such a gorgeous necklace, a design that really stands apart from so many other Star Wars necklaces. It captures the Original Trilogy films in a single item of jewelry, with a creative design that is sure to catch attention every time you wear it. I absolutely love its unique and colourful design.
