Three Nails

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
— John 15:13

Three nails.

Two through the hands, one through the feet.

They were nothing like a nail you would buy today. Hand-forged, square in section, five to seven inches, tapered and made to be driven and never drawn back out. One was found at Giv'at ha-Mivtar in Jerusalem still through the heel bone of a crucified man, bent at the tip where it hit a knot in the wood and turned.

He knew what was coming and went anyway. That is the part men wear this for. Not the suffering. The choosing.

Three nails bound at the crossing with wire, the way a man ties two pieces of iron together when he needs them to hold. Poured solid in a single piece, the shafts hammered flat, the heads left rough.

Greater love hath no man.

Specifications

• Solid .999 fine silver, hand poured
• 44mm tall × 27mm wide
• Hand-oxidized recesses, polished high points
• 4mm black braided leather cord, 22", gunmetal magnetic barrel clasp
• Signed Certificate of Authenticity
• Poured and finished in Northfield, Vermont

Worn for a lifetime. Passed to the next.