Choosing a Religious Medal or Cross: Size, Chain and Care

Short answer: start with the size in millimetres on the listing, and hold a ruler up to it, because a small medal can look larger on a screen than on a neck. Choose the chain after you know the pendant’s bail opening: our medals and crosses are sold without a chain, and the chain has to pass through the bail. Gold and platinum need only gentle cleaning. Our medals and crosses are sold unengraved, and a piece engraved elsewhere cannot be returned, so decide on it before you engrave. If the gift is for a baby, note that the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend that infants wear any jewelry; a medal can be kept until the child is older.

This guide is about the medal or cross as an object: its size, chain, metal, care and engraving. It does not discuss what any medal or cross means.

Why these pieces are easy to get wrong online

If you are choosing a medal or cross for someone’s milestone, you are usually buying something small that you cannot hold first, and a close-up photograph can make it look larger than it is. The chain is a separate purchase, so it has to fit a bail you may not have seen. Engraving also affects returns: once a piece is engraved elsewhere, it cannot come back. Getting any of these wrong can mean a pendant that looks smaller than you expected, a chain that will not go through the bail, or a gift you cannot return.

Size: read the millimetres

Most of our medal and cross listings give the pendant’s dimensions in millimetres in the title, for example “12 x 8 mm” or “16.5 x 12 mm”; a few give them in inches in the listing details instead. To picture a size, mark it on paper with a ruler, or hold the ruler against the neck where the pendant will sit.

Height matters for where the piece hangs as well as how it looks. As our guide to choosing a chain for a pendant puts it, “The pendant’s own height adds to the drop, so a tall pendant hangs lower than a small one on the same chain.” Size is a matter of preference. We do not give size rules for children or adults, because we found no reliable source for them.

The chain: bail first, then width, then length

The bail is the loop at the top of the pendant that the chain passes through. Our pendant chain guide sets out the method: read the bail opening, and “Read the smaller of the two numbers as your working limit, because the chain has to clear the opening in both directions.” It then suggests a chain “noticeably narrower than the smaller bail dimension, not one that only just squeezes through.” Remember that one end of the chain, the clasp or the ring it hooks into, has to pass through a closed bail too.

Our medal and cross listings give the pendant’s size but not its bail opening. The pendant chain guide covers that case: “If a pendant listing does not show a bail opening, ask before you order. Our Concierge can check the manufacturer’s specification for you.”

For length, the same guide gives typical positions on an average adult neck, from 16 inches at or just below the base of the neck to 24 inches at mid chest, and calls 18 inches “The most common pendant length”. If the medal is for a man who wears a longer chain, our men’s chain and bracelet length guide covers measuring a chain he already wears.

Metal and care

• 14K yellow gold. Our care guide by metal and stone notes that yellow and rose gold “keep their color through the whole alloy, so there is no plating to wear away.” A soak in warm, mildly soapy water and a soft brush is enough at home.
• 14K white gold. White gold is usually plated with rhodium, and that plating wears with time; our guide to platinum vs white gold explains re-plating. The white gold medal and cross below do not say on their listings whether they are plated, so ask if that matters to you.
• Platinum. The care guide says platinum “never needs plating” and over time takes on “a soft, satin-like look called patina”, which a jeweler can re-polish.

Clean medals and crosses the same gentle way, and store each piece on its own so it does not rub against other jewelry.

Engraving

None of our medal or cross listings offers engraving, and they are sold unengraved. IMPERVORA does offer engraving, but only on a separate personalized line, and these medals and crosses are not part of it.

You can still have a medal or cross engraved by a local engraver, for example on the back if the design leaves room. Before you do, be sure of the piece, because our return and refund policy states: “Items showing wear, resizing, engraving, repair, or alteration by any third party cannot be accepted.” In practice, wait until the piece has arrived and you are happy with its size and metal. When you visit the engraver, take the piece with you and ask how much space there is and what text will fit.

Gifts for a baptism, christening, first communion or confirmation

If the medal is for a baby, the American Academy of Pediatrics, in an article on amber teething necklaces on its HealthyChildren.org site, states: “The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not recommend that infants wear any jewelry.” A medal given at a christening can be kept until the child is older, and a chain chosen then.

For any gift, check the return conditions before the day. A return must be postmarked within 30 days of delivery and be “Unworn, unaltered, and free of damage, scratches, or signs of wear”, in its original packaging. “For all other returns, including change of mind and fit, the customer is responsible for return shipping.” To start a return, email Concierge@impervora.com with the order number and the reason; returns need a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number.

Medals and crosses at IMPERVORA

Facts below are taken from each listing. Names are as they appear on the listings.

• 14K Gold Oval Miraculous Medal Pendant, 12 x 8 mm: 14K yellow or 14K white gold, polished finish, 12 x 8 mm. Chain not included.
• 14K Gold Cross Pendant, 13 x 9 mm: 14K yellow or 14K white gold, polished finish, 13 x 9 mm. Chain not included.
• Platinum Cross Pendant, 16.5 x 12 mm: platinum, polished finish, 16.5 x 12 mm. Chain not included.

Both metal options of the two 14K pendants, and the platinum cross, were available to order when we checked on 17 October 2026. Availability changes. None of the three listings states a bail opening.

IMPERVORA sells the pendants linked above, chosen as examples of the sizes and metals discussed in this guide. If you are deciding on a specific piece, email Concierge@impervora.com before you order and we will share what its listing and supplier information state, including the bail opening if the supplier provides it.

Next step

Note the pendant’s size in millimetres and mark it on paper. Then email Concierge@impervora.com with the product name and ask for the bail opening, and choose a chain that clears it with room to spare.