Sea Urchin Charm Bead Review

This little charm is called the Sea Urchin. Yet another of my first few charms from my first charm bracelet. I bought this from ThinkGeek but since it's not exclusive to ThinkGeek, I presume you may find this charm elsewhere. However, it is probably named something else.

Now at this point you are probably thinking, "That doesn't look like a sea urchin". Well, if you look at it from the top, it kinda does. Or maybe you're thinking of the little black spiny ones that can be eaten as sushi.
You can check out the different kinds of Sea Urchin's here -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_urchin#Gallery

To ThinkGeek this charm reminds them of the round inner shell of the sea urchin like in this stock photo below. The keyword is "reminds" as the charm has 6 plates instead of having the five fold symmetry of a real sea urchin. They happily just consider this a mutant sea urchin.

Top View

Sea Urchin Shell (dreamstime.com)

There are 4 crystals in each stripe and there are 6 stripes giving a total of 24 crystals.

Front and Side View

Dimensions: 5 mm wide (along the bracelet), 4.5 mm diameter hole, 10 mm overall diameter

Pro: The crystals are held in place using a bead setting and to date I have not had any problems with the crystals falling out.

Pro: Large diameter hole allowing it to fit other competing brand bracelets. I had written how I didn't like the large hole in the ThinkGeek Space Lampwork bead, however I really don't mind it on this one. It just doesn't seem as obvious.

Pro: Very affordable

Con: No idea where to get it anymore. ThinkGeek still has it listed under the descriptions of beads in their European Style Bracelet page but it's not available to purchase in their drop down menu.

Con: This charm is silver-plated pewter. However, so far this charm still looks pretty shiny so the silver-plating is holding up. In fact my Timmy Charm is in far worse condition having lots of scratches but then again, the Timmy Charm is a dangle and bangs around a lot more.


Here's a bracelet I put together with the silvers being sea creatures incorporating the little Sea Urchin. Eventually I intend having a full bracelet but Rome wasn't built in a day. It takes time to earn enough gold from questing and looting mobs.

From left to right:

Small Silver Stopper (my own "homemade")

Trollbeads Purple Wave
Novobeads Sea Turtle

Trollbeads Unique (Purple Translucent Spinner Bead with 2 Wings)
Novobeads Seashell

Trollbeads Unique (Purple Translucent Flower) 

Sea Urchin (bought from ThinkGeek)

Trollbeads Purple Wave

Small Silver Stopper (my own "homemade")

Conclusion: I actually really like this little charm bead. If I see it sold again I probably would buy it another one so I would have a pair.