A ring born in a New York City workshop in the late 1970s, chosen by three friends to
seal a pact, and later printed on an album cover. This is the story of the Jim Skull, the
most photographed sterling silver skull ring in rock and roll, still handmade today by Alfred Albrizio.

There are pieces of jewelry you buy, and pieces you earn. The Jim Skull belongs to the
second kind. It was never designed as a fashion item, never built around a marketing
campaign, and nobody ever "launched" it. It came out of a New York City shop and became
an icon almost by accident, on the day three men with nothing to prove to anyone decided
that this silver skull was the right way to say "we're in this together."

The Origins: A Silver Skull Born in New York in the 1970s

The story starts long before Johnny Depp. It starts in 1959, when Alfonso Albrizio opened
C'est Magnifique in New York City, a sterling silver jewelry store that quickly became a
landmark for musicians, actors and free spirits looking for pieces with an edge that
traditional jewelry couldn't offer. A place where artistry met rebellion, as the family still
describes it today.

It was in this workshop, in the late 1970s, that the great uncle of the current owner
designed a medium-sized ring with a flat-top skull, engraved by hand. One piece among
many that came off the bench, sitting on a shelf waiting for the right hand. Nobody, back
then, could have imagined that this ring would one day have a name of its own.

Jonathan Shaw, Johnny Depp, Iggy Pop and Jim Jarmusch: The "Death Is Certain Crew"

In the early 1990s a family friend, the legendary NYC tattoo artist Jonathan Shaw, walked
into the shop with three people in tow: Johnny Depp, Iggy Pop and Jim Jarmusch. They
were looking for a ring all three of them could wear, a tangible sign of their friendship.
Among themselves, they called it the Death Is Certain Crew.

Jim Jarmusch spotted it first. The director walked up to the shelf, picked up the flat-top
skull, and the decision was made on the spot. From that moment on, the ring carried his
name: the Jim Skull.

From Friendship Ring to Icon: Depp's Photos and Iggy Pop's Album Cover

What started as a private pact between friends soon turned into a phenomenon. Johnny
Depp began getting photographed everywhere with the Jim Skull on his hand, and requests
at the shop exploded. The family still calls it "the ring insanity." In 2003 Iggy Pop went one
step further and put the ring on the cover of his album Skull Ring, cementing the New York
skull in rock imagery for good.

The result is that, to this day, anyone searching online for "Johnny Depp's skull ring" is
looking, whether they know it or not, for the Jim Skull by Alfred Albrizio.

The 1998 Custom Versions: Diamonds, Rubies and Gold Lightning Bolts

Around 1998 the workshop made two custom versions of the Jim Skull, one for Johnny Depp
and one for Jim Jarmusch. They are one-of-a-kind pieces, and they show exactly what
"custom" means when it's done by a hand engraver rather than a catalog:

• Johnny Depp's Jim Skull: three diamonds set in the forehead, ruby eyes, and a gold
  number 3 and question mark on either side.
• Jim Jarmusch's Jim Skull: gold lightning bolts on the sides, with gold in the eyes and
  nose.

Two readings of the same skull for two completely different personalities. That is precisely
the spirit Alfred Albrizio still works in today: start from an iconic form, then bend it to the
person who will wear it.

Beyond the Ring: The "Property of JD" Pill Box, the Eyeball Pendant and the Never Fear Truth Jim Skull

Over the years the relationship with the Death Is Certain Crew has produced other personal
items and special pieces: a "Property of JD" pill box, an eyeball pendant and, most
recently, the Never Fear Truth Jim Skull, the latest evolution of the original ring, with the
words Never, Fear and Truth hand-engraved on the skull. In the catalog it appears as the
NFT Jim Skull, where the initials stand for Never Fear Truth.

It's proof that the Jim Skull is not a museum piece. It's a living design that keeps changing
its skin along with the people who made it famous.

How an Original Jim Skull Is Made Today

More than sixty years after C'est Magnifique opened its doors, the way of working hasn't
changed. Alfred Albrizio III started at the family store in 1994, learning design and
fabrication from his father and great uncle. When the store closed in 2014, he carried on
from a private studio, serving a clientele that now reaches around the world.

Every Jim Skull that leaves the studio shares the same characteristics:

• Handmade in the USA in .925 sterling silver, nickel free.
• Made to order, with a production time of roughly 2 to 3 weeks.
• Approximately 15 mm from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the teeth.
• Hollow back, exactly as the original 1970s mold was made, with the option of a solid back when ordering.
• Also available on request in 10K, 14K or 18K gold (yellow, white or rose), platinum
  and palladium.
• Stones and custom engraving can be added, just like the versions made for Depp and Jarmusch.
• Lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects.

The engraving is done entirely by hand with a burin, following traditional technique. That's
the detail that separates an engraved piece from a stamped one, and the reason no two Jim
Skulls are ever truly identical.

Why "Original" Is Not Just an Adjective

There is only one original Jim Skull: the one cast from the late-1970s mold, in the studio of
the family that designed it. No licenses, no reissues, no outsourced production. Anyone who
wants the same ring Jim Jarmusch picked off the shelf, photographed on Johnny Depp and
printed on Iggy Pop's album cover will find it exclusively at alfredalbrizio.com, in the
Original Jim Skull Rings collection.

And for anyone who wants to write their own chapter of the story, the studio takes custom
requests: precious metals, stones, personal engravings. The starting point is always the
same skull. The result never is.