Coins as jewelry: thoughts?

[Cinco71]

Yesterday I visited a coin shop in Tokyo that specializes in turning Greek and Roman coins into jewelry, mostly pendants and rings.  Below is an example of taking a typical Alexander drachm and putting it into a ring as well as a Hadrian denarius as a pendant.  They use real coins, though they also had many pieces that used replicas instead.  I was there to look at their raw coins, but couldn't help looking at the jewelry, too.    I have mixed feelings about the idea of wearing a coin, so I wonder how the rest of you feel about this.   Anyone tempted to wear a drachm around your finger or a denarius around your neck?  Or is this absolute sacrilege?

They are called World Coin Gallery located near the Akihabara area of Tokyo if you want to peruse their offerings.

[robinjojo]

From a purely numismatic perspective, using coins in jewelry is a no-no.  The process of mounting a coin in a bezel will result in damage in varying degrees, depending on the method used.  The same applies for adding a suspension loop.  However, it is human nature to put something appealing such as a nice ancient coin in a jewelry setting, for others to admire.  This is a practice that goes back centuries and as such is part of the numismatic landscape.  

I do have one coin that is mounted in a gold bezel with a gold chain, purchased many years ago.  This is a 4 reales cob of Lima of the 1690s, very dark and obviously a sea or land salvage coin.  Spanish treasure coins are often used for this purpose, but more often than not they tend to be quite low grade, eroded by centuries of emersion in salt water and are very expensive. 

High grade ancient coins in jewelry is another matter.  In terms of conservation putting these coins in jewelry mountings generally should be avoided, I think.

Edited November 27, 2023 by robinjojo

[CPK]

No thanks.

[AETHER]

I'm for it, would love a spectacular piece. Of course, avoid damage to the coin would be a must.  

 

[JayAg47]

I actually like that Alexander ring, as long as they don't physically alter the coin in the process I don't mind. But personally, I don't like wearing ancient coins as jewelry. Makes me look like an Italian mob boss.

[Factor]

Absolutely not. Even if the mounting is very careful and the coin is not damaged in the process, it will certainly see some wheat as the item is used. Why anyone would enjoy destroying a piece of history is beyond my understanding. 

[Qcumbor]

Maybe, the mounting process could avoid damaging the coin, maybe ...

But wearing it, the sweat, the frictions ...

Q

[Limes]

On 11/24/2023 at 11:05 PM, Cinco71 said:

Yesterday I visited a coin shop in Tokyo that specializes in turning Greek and Roman coins into jewelry, mostly pendants and rings.  Below is an example of taking a typical Alexander drachm and putting it into a ring as well as a Hadrian denarius as a pendant.  They use real coins, though they also had many pieces that used replicas instead.  I was there to look at their raw coins, but couldn't help looking at the jewelry, too.    I have mixed feelings about the idea of wearing a coin, so I wonder how the rest of you feel about this.   Anyone tempted to wear a drachm around your finger or a denarius around your neck?  Or is this absolute sacrilege?

They are called World Coin Gallery located near the Akihabara area of Tokyo if you want to peruse their offerings.

[DonnaML]

Even apart from the potential damage to a coin, I think it's a bit crass, and not in the best of taste, to wear ancient coin jewelry. I have been tempted once or twice, though, to buy a pair of  ancient Roman earrings, wearable or with the hooks in back repaired to make them wearable -- ones that aren't too showy and could pass as modern. They'd have to be  intended for pierced ears, though: I don't know if any of you has ever tried to wear clip-on or screw-back earrings, but they can be incredibly painful! 

[Al Kowsky]

Coin jewelry has been popular since ancient times 😊. I had a circulated Liberty $5.00 gold coin set in a simple 14K custom made ring mounting many years ago & still wear it occasionally. I liked the design of Miss Liberty surrounded by 13 stars. Today the ring has a melt value of $969, so I don't wear it as often as I used to 😏.

[idesofmarch01]

18 hours ago, DonnaML said:

I have been tempted once or twice, though, to buy a pair of  ancient Roman earrings, wearable or with the hooks in back repaired to make them wearable -- ones that aren't too showy and could pass as modern. They'd have to be  intended for pierced ears, though: I don't know if any of you has ever tried to wear clip-on or screw-back earrings, but they can be incredibly painful! 

Will a set of these work?  They're from around 300 BCE:

[Hrefn]

We all acknowledge that survival of some coins to the modern era is due to their use in jewelry.  I would usually prefer a pristine, mint state coin over an “ex-jewelry” example.  But I would prefer an ex-jewelry example over not having the coin at all.  Obsolete and foreign coins which could not pass as coin of the realm usually went into the melting pot, unless they were preserved for their beauty or design, as jewelry.   Here are a few examples from my collection.  The evolution of these coins from coin to talisman or jewelry is part of their history. 

The first coin is an aureus of Marcus Aurelius with Fides reverse.  This came out of the Aurum Barbarorum collection, and retains its suspension loop.   As a numismatic specimen it leaves much to be desired, but to my eye it is a powerful work of art.  It is also a testimony to the esteem and prestige accorded the Empire by the Barbaricum, and as such a historical document in its own right.

Next is a denier of the last Carolingian king of East Francia, Louis the Child.   This coin was gilded and likely had a suspension loop as evidenced by some gilded solder at 1 o’clock on the obverse.  Despite this, the coin is a fine example of a rather rare ruler.  Depeyrot notes 276 examples of this coin.  I doubt I would own one if I had not stumbled across this affordable example.  

The last coin has a bit of history behind it.  In 1570, the Turks were pursuing the conquest of the island of Cyprus.  An army of 60,000 Turks under Lala Mustapha Pasha took the city of Nicosia in September.  20,000 inhabitants of the city were slaughtered, with the only survivors being the women and boys sold into slavery.  The Venetian garrison in the city of Famagusta, under the valiant leadership of Marco Antonio Bragadin, were able to resist the Turkish forces for almost a year.  During this time, the emergency issue of the coin below took place.   Despite assurances that the lives of the inhabitants would be spared, and they would be allowed safe passage to Crete, the fall of the city resulted in a massacre of the Christian inhabitants.  After suffering prolonged tortures, Marco Antonio Bragadin was skinned alive.  

Someone made this coin into a pendant, whether to memorialize the events of the fall of Cyprus in 1571 or because the coin features St. Mark, or for some other reason, we may never know.  The shape of the remaining flan suggests the coin was pierced and worn until broken, then pierced for wearing again.  Clearly, it meant something to someone. 

These coins would not have survived to the present day if they had not been repurposed as jewelry.   I will even go so far as to say that their use as jewelry renders them more historically interesting, at least to me.  But I would love to have an unaltered example of each of them in my trays.  

 

 

[DonnaML]

8 hours ago, idesofmarch01 said:

Will a set of these work?  They're from around 300 BCE:

Hmm. Tasteful. Understated. What more could I want?