Pick the animal first, then the size, since a pendant is read from across the room. The usual piece here is about an inch and a third wide and stands taller than it is wide. Take 14K for a heavy gold head, or silver for a smaller piece you wear every day. Read the karat on the listing's metal line, since most titles leave it out. Hang it on a rope or a Franco.
The animal: eagle, tiger head, lion, gorilla and eagle claw pendants for men
Start with the eagle. It is the biggest group here, and with the eagle claws it runs to 18 listings. Gorillas and tigers come next, then dogs and bears, out of twenty-eight animals from a bee to a bull.
What people take home is smaller. One silver eagle claw with a tiger's eye stone outsold every other piece put together. Then come the eagles and the tiger heads, and the tiger head comes in a small or a large.
Metal: 14K or 10K gold animal pendant, silver, and the color you pick
Take 14K gold for a head you want heavy and bright. Four in five gold pieces here are 14K. 10K is paler and harder, with less gold in it. Silver is about one in seven listings, yet it went out the door most by the piece, mostly small heads and claws.
Most titles never name the karat, so read the listing's metal line before you pay. Most gold listings let you choose yellow, rose or white, and nearly every gold buyer here took yellow.
Size and weight: how big an animal pendant is in inches, and how many grams
The middle piece is about an inch and a third wide. It stands a little over two inches tall, because a head runs taller than it is wide. Pieces under an inch wide sold best.
Grams tell you how it hangs on the chest. About half the pieces here list 40 grams or more. Ten pass 100 grams, and the custom-made heads list about twice the grams of the rest. No listing gives the bail's opening, so ask us whether it clears your chain before you order.
Stones: diamond animal pendants, sapphire eyes, tiger's eye and opal, lab-grown or natural
About three titles in eight name a diamond. The bears are nearly all diamond, while the gorillas, tigers and dogs mostly go plain. Of the colored stones, sapphire shows up most, usually set as the eyes. A few carry ruby eyes or an opal.
Nearly every listing names the diamond's origin, natural on most, though the lab-grown silver eagle claw sold the most pieces. When a listing does not say what its stones are, ask the desk before you pay.
Chain and buying: rope or Franco chain for an animal pendant, custom work and returns
Hang it on a rope or a Franco, the two chains these listings name most. Give a heavy head a heavier chain and a longer drop. The men's pendants guide matches the chain to the grams, and the men's gold chains guide covers each link.
For custom work, the desk says whether your animal can be made and quotes the wait. Unworn and unaltered, a pendant can come back within fourteen days of delivery, once customer service okays it at service@traxnyc.com or 212-391-3832. It travels on our return label. We take that label's cost and five percent for restocking off the refund, and a piece made to your order is final. Reach the desk through the live chat first, or on 212-872-9692 by phone or text from 10 AM ET.