| People have been making coins into jewelry since the inception of coinage. There are many ways to have necklaces, pendants, rings, brooches, tie clasps, cufflinks, buttons, belts, and so on made out of coins today, whether ancient or modern, whether with genuine coins or replicas made primarily to be used for jewelry. You can buy coin jewelry premade or use the coin of your choice. You can contact a local jeweler or an outfit that specializes in coin jewelry, or you can make coin jewelry yourself. The following three pieces were made in modern times to be worn as a pendant, each inspired by the Classical Owl, each using a very different technique. | |||||||||
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| Jewelry pendant made from cast of originally engraved replica (19 mm). This sterling silver pendant was made in Greece with a cast of an originally engraved replica. It's a poor quality, undersized replica, with Athena's crest appearing unrealistic and the crescent moon missing on the reverse. Some pendants are made with better quality replicas, and some are made with authentic Owls, but often the latter are pricey, with the coins greatly marked up. As two examples, at the time of this writing, one TV network Web site was selling silver pendants made with authentic Owls, the Owls having worn, unattractively corroded surfaces and appearing to be only in Fine condition, coins that might sell for $300 to $400 from an ancient coin dealer, for about $1,500, and one jeweler was selling a gold pendant with an Owl in similar condition, but instead of corrosion it had an ugly flan defect (not a test cut), for about $5,500. It can be more cost-effective to buy the coin separately and have a jeweler make a pendant or other piece of jewelry for you. More on coin jewelry. |
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| Jewelry pendant made from 1973 Greek two drachmas coin (22 mm). This attractive gold- and silver-plated pendant was made from an authentic coin, but a modern one, the 1973 Greek two drachmas, which features on the reverse an appealing rendition of the owl on Classical Owls. The artists who make these pieces, John and Janice Germain of Lexington, MI, first drill a small hole in the coin and use a jeweler's saw to cut away everything except the central device and the rim, solder the owl's tail to the rim as well as a loop to connect the owl's head to the rim, add a clasp to the loop, then selectively plate the piece by hand in gold and silver. This piece of cut-coin jewelry is available among other places from Bill Saunders of Nostalgic Bay in Snohomish, WA. |
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| Jewelry pendant made from Antiquanova figurine (25 mm x 10 mm). This sterling silver pendant, which also pays tribute to Classical Owls, was skillfully made in the Czech Republic by Antiquanova, a well-known maker of ancient coin replicas. The Greek letter theta on the reverse, however, appears in its modern rather than ancient form, with a line rather than a dot in the center, and the owl's tail features are wider than on Owls but nicely fill the space between the owl's wing and foot on this pendant. |
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