I had forgotten about this key:
A friend gave me a few things that she had been carrying around in her jewelry case for many years and several moves but didn't actively use.
So I made a key for her. I knew that the little silver fingernail was from a show she was in sometime in the 80's; I also knew that the spiral wire on the "other side" of the key was from a clip that belonged to her grandfather.
What I didn't know was that the barrette on "one side" of the key was her grandmother's. Or that her birthstone was amethyst (well, I should have known that because I gave her the key for her birthday in February). I picked out the purple bead because it was the only one that looked right.
It's nice when things work out in a deeper (more meaningful?) way like that.