14 Brands Like James Avery for Charms and Silver Keepsakes
You walked in for one cross pendant and walked out planning a whole charm bracelet around it. That's the pattern with James Avery, and the catch is that one Texas jeweler can only draw so many designs before your bracelet looks like the one on the next wrist.
Here are 14 jewelry brands working the same ground: hand-finished silver, charms with a reason behind them, crosses, and pieces priced as gifts rather than milestones. We opened every store on this list, tested the checkouts we could reach, and quote only prices we read on the brand's own product pages, in the currency that brand quoted us.
What James Avery is: a family-owned jeweler founded in 1954 by James Avery and still headquartered in Kerrville, Texas. It makes sterling silver and 14k gold charms, crosses, rings and bracelets, with more than 90% of pieces crafted in Texas workshops at Kerrville, Comfort, Hondo and Corpus Christi. Its store locator lists shops across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and neighboring states, and a new San Antonio store opened in January 2026. The whole proposition is a physical store you can walk into, a charm you can hold, and a price that reads as a birthday present. On its own charms page, the filters run from under $55 USD to $351 and above, and the collegiate charms we sampled sat between $61 and $99 USD.
That proposition is the filter we used. Five brands from the previous version of this list are gone. One turned out not to exist, one shut in 2019, and three weren't brands at all.
Quick comparison. Where a store blocked us from reading a live price, the cell says so rather than carrying a number we couldn't check.
| Brand | Closest to James Avery on | Verified price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sorrelli | Cross pendants, handcrafted since 1983 | Clarissa Cross Pendant Necklace $85 USD | Crosses with crystal instead of plain silver |
| Kendra Scott | Texas roots, walk-in stores, gifting | Prices render in-browser only | A store you can visit in Austin or Dallas |
| Alex and Ani | Charms carrying a meaning | Good Fortune Beaded Bangle $34 USD | Stacking bangles under $40 |
| Tiffany & Co. | Sterling silver charms and heart tags | Site blocks automated reads | The luxury version of a silver charm |
| Pandora | Charm bracelets built one bead at a time | Site blocks automated reads | The widest charm catalogue anywhere |
| Mejuri | Everyday fine jewelry in silver and 14k | Regional pricing, no US figure read | Plain modern chains and hoops |
| Ross-Simons | Catalogue jeweler, charms and silver | Prices render in-browser only | One order covering silver, gold and pearls |
| BaubleBar | Personalized names and initials | Pavé Varsity Number Custom Necklace $78 USD | Custom pieces under $80 |
| Brighton | Detailed silverwork, charms, US boutiques | Interlok Tree of Life Charm $58 USD | Charms with a Western edge |
| Uncommon James | Everyday keepsakes, birthstones | Birthstone Pendant Necklace $55 USD | Birthstone gifting |
| Gorjana | A charm system you build up over time | Ryder Alphabet Charm $40 USD | Clip-on charms for existing chains |
| Susan Shaw | Cross necklaces, made to order in Texas | Cross Toggle Necklace from $128 USD | Texas-made crosses |
| Rustic Cuff | Cuffs and crosses with a sentiment attached | Amazing Grace Cuff $68 USD | Cuff bracelets given as gifts |
| Trollbeads | Bead-by-bead bracelets, silver and glass | Site blocks automated reads | Glass beads rather than metal charms |
Closest match: Brighton and Susan Shaw, on silverwork and on the feeling of buying from a shop rather than a feed. Cheapest way in: Alex and Ani at $34 USD. Most premium: Tiffany & Co. Specialist picks: Sorrelli for crystal crosses, Trollbeads for glass, Rustic Cuff for cuffs.
Sorrelli
Sorrelli has been making hand-assembled crystal jewelry since 1983, and its own site leads with that date rather than a trend. The overlap with James Avery is the cross pendant: the Clarissa Cross Pendant Necklace is $85 USD and the Dierdre Cross Pendant Necklace is $125 USD.
The difference is material. Where James Avery works in plain sterling and gold, Sorrelli builds in faceted crystal, so the same motif arrives with color and light in it. Its catalogue runs deep too, and nearly everything we read was in stock, including the Charmed Pendant Necklace at $60 USD is the easiest entry point.
Best for: someone who wants a cross that catches the light.
Kendra Scott
Kendra Scott is the other Texas jeweler with a real store network, which makes it the closest structural match on this list. Founded in Austin, it sells through its own shops with buy-online-pick-up-in-store, and its Color Bar lets you assemble a piece by choosing the stone and setting in person.
The signature is the Elisa pendant, a single faceted teardrop stone on a fine chain, and the house look is color rather than silver relief. Kendra Scott renders its prices in the browser, so we can't quote a figure we read directly, but the shop is trading and the store finder is live. If you're weighing the two head to head, we go deeper in Kendra Scott vs. James Avery.
Best for: keeping the walk-in store part of the James Avery habit.
Alex and Ani
Alex and Ani sells expandable wire bangles hung with charms, each one tied to a symbol or a sentiment, which is the closest anyone gets to the James Avery charm logic at a lower price. The Good Fortune Beaded Bangle is $34 USD and the Pumpkin Patch Multi-Charm Necklace is $58 USD.
Worth knowing: the company went through Chapter 11 and closed most of its stores, so it now runs as a mainly online brand with a handful of locations left. The website itself is healthy, with a working checkout and 242 products listed, a fraction of what the brand carried at its peak. Plating over base metal is the trade-off against James Avery's solid sterling.
Best for: charm stacking on a $40 budget.
Tiffany & Co.
Tiffany & Co. is the luxury answer to the same question James Avery asks, because the Return to Tiffany line is a sterling silver charm collection built around one repeated motif, the heart tag. Charm bracelets, heart tag pendants and silver charms all sit inside it.
Tiffany blocks automated price reads, so we're not quoting figures. What we can say plainly is that the step up from James Avery to Tiffany is a multiple, not a nudge, and you're paying for the blue box and the flagship stores as much as the metal. For a fuller side-by-side, see jewelry brands like Tiffany.
Best for: a milestone gift in the same silver-charm language.
Pandora
Pandora runs the largest charm catalogue in jewelry, and Pandora Group reports around 2,800 concept stores worldwide and DKK 32.5 billion in 2025 revenue. The bracelet-plus-charm structure is identical to the James Avery approach, and the release calendar is relentless, with new seasonal and licensed charms landing through the year.
Pandora sits behind a bot wall, so no price here came from us reading a product page. The difference in feel is that James Avery charms are cast in relief and stay silver, while Pandora leans on enamel, pavé stones and character tie-ins. We compare them directly in James Avery vs. Pandora, and the wider field in charm bracelet brands like Pandora.
Best for: adding a new charm every season.
Mejuri
Mejuri makes everyday fine jewelry in 14k gold and sterling silver, and it's the pick for readers who like James Avery's material honesty but not its motifs. Think plain hoops, fine chains and signet rings with nothing engraved on them.
Mejuri prices by region, and this check resolved to a non-US storefront, so we haven't quoted a figure that a US reader would see at checkout. Set your country on the site before you judge the price. It also runs its own stores, so the in-person part of the James Avery habit survives the switch.
Best for: the plain-metal end of everyday jewelry.
Ross-Simons
Ross-Simons is a catalogue jeweler rather than a design house, which makes it useful in a different way: charms, charm bracelets, sterling silver, gemstones and pearls all sit under one checkout, alongside estate pieces and personalized items.
The overlap with James Avery is breadth at a gift price. The gap is that there's no house style holding it together, so you're browsing a department rather than a designer. Prices render in the browser, so we're not quoting one. Its own site carries a 100% guarantee and a VIP rewards program, both stated on the retailer's own pages.
Best for: buying silver, gold and pearls in a single order.
BaubleBar
BaubleBar owns the personalization corner of this list. The Pavé Varsity Number Custom Necklace is $78 USD, and the custom nameplate and initial range runs alongside it at similar money.
This is the furthest from James Avery in material, since BaubleBar works in plated metal and pavé stones aimed at a trend cycle rather than a keepsake. It earns its place because the engraved-name instinct is the same one that sends people to James Avery for a monogram. We added a piece to the cart and read it back, and the range we sampled was almost entirely in stock.
Best for: a name or a number spelled out, under $80.
Brighton
Brighton is the closest thing here to James Avery's design language: detailed silver relief, scrollwork, hearts and crosses, sold through its own site and a network of US stockists. The Interlok Tree of Life Charm is $58 USD and the Summer Heart Charm Necklace is $122 USD.
Its charm system works like James Avery's, one piece added at a time to a bracelet or necklace you already own, and the ornamented, faintly Western feel will read as familiar to anyone shopping in Texas. We added a charm to the cart and read it back to confirm the checkout works. Our fuller round-up is at jewelry brands like Brighton.
Best for: the same ornamented silver, from a different house.
Uncommon James
Uncommon James was founded by Kristin Cavallari and sells everyday jewelry with a keepsake streak running through it. The Birthstone Pendant Necklace is $55 USD and the Marina Knotted Chain Necklace is $98 USD.
The birthstone pendant is the direct parallel, since it's the same idea as a James Avery charm bought for a specific person on a specific date. Where it parts company is intent. James Avery sells sterling and 14k gold designed to outlast the occasion, while Uncommon James prices for a gift that suits this year's neckline.
Best for: birthstone gifting under $60.
Gorjana
Gorjana has quietly built a charm system that behaves like James Avery's: you buy a chain, then add to it. The Ryder Alphabet Charm is $40 USD, the Scout Charm is $45 USD and the Charm Collector is $48 USD.
The look is Californian and lighter, delicate gold links instead of weighted silver, so a Gorjana stack disappears under a collar where a James Avery bracelet announces itself. Cart tested, and the charm range we sampled was in stock. If you want the comparison spelled out, we've written Pandora vs. Gorjana.
Best for: clip-on charms for chains you already wear.
Susan Shaw
Susan Shaw is a San Antonio jeweler whose own site describes its work as handmade to order and designed in Texas, which puts it closer to the James Avery origin story than anything else on this list. The Cross Toggle Necklace starts at $128 USD, with coin and heart toggles at the same price.
The house style is heavier and more antiqued than James Avery's polished sterling, and the range leans on toggles, coins, pearls and intaglios. Free shipping starts at $125, so a single cross necklace clears it. This is a small operation rather than a chain, and there's no walk-in store network behind it.
Best for: a Texas-made cross with some weight to it.
Rustic Cuff
Rustic Cuff builds its whole identity around giving jewelry away, and its site frames each cuff as a connection rather than an accessory. The Amazing Grace Cuff is $68 USD and the 250 Years of Freedom Art Deco Cuff in silver is $58 USD.
The parallel with James Avery is the occasion, not the metal. These are pieces bought for someone else at a moment that matters, and the range includes mother-of-pearl crosses alongside the cuffs. Prices move around a lot on this site, with deep markdowns sitting next to full-price lines, so check the crossed-out figure before you decide you've found a bargain.
Best for: a bracelet you're buying for someone else.
Trollbeads
Trollbeads calls itself the original bead-on-bracelet brand, dating the idea to 1976, which predates every other charm system here. You build a bracelet from beads in silver, gold, glass, pearl and gemstone, and the US site trades in dollars.
Where James Avery casts a charm as a small sculpture in silver, Trollbeads leans on hand-blown glass, so a finished bracelet reads as color rather than relief. The site served us a connection check rather than a product feed, so we haven't quoted a price. We've put the two best-known bead systems side by side in Trollbeads vs. Pandora.
Best for: glass beads instead of cast metal.
How to Choose a James Avery Alternative
Pick by what sent you looking. If it was the silverwork, go to Brighton or Susan Shaw. If it was the charm-by-charm habit, Pandora, Gorjana and Trollbeads all run that system. If it was the price, Alex and Ani starts at $34. And if what you miss most is a shop you can walk into on a Saturday, Kendra Scott is the only one here with a comparable Texas store network. Everything else we've published sits in the article archive.
Five entries from the old version of this article are gone, and the reasons are worth stating because they change what you can trust in a list like this. "Giuseppe Jewelry" doesn't exist: its domain resolves to nothing and a search on the name returns an unrelated Italian designer sold through a US shopping channel. Chloe + Isabel wound up its business in 2019 and the old article pointed readers at an eBay category page instead. Etsy and Nordstrom are a marketplace and a department store, not brands. Pandora Me is a Pandora sub-line already covered by Pandora itself.
Two more went on fit. Vrai sells lab-grown diamond engagement rings and Mikimoto sells cultured pearl necklaces, both of them fine houses, neither of them a place to buy a $60 charm. If you want that end of the market, our Ana Luisa list covers demi-fine, and the engagement ring round-up covers stones.
If you purchase through our links, we may receive a commission. Our editorial team is independent and only endorses brands we believe in.
Written by
Spencer Lanoue
