The paradox of money as jewelry

Money is meant to be spent—or so you'd think. All the more surprising, then, is the sight of a coin that doesn't disappear into a wallet, but instead hangs gleaming on a chain around your neck. Coins as jewelry? What seems paradoxical at first glance reveals itself upon closer inspection as a fascinating play on symbols: A means of payment, a symbol of purchasing power, is stripped of its original function to acquire new meaning as an ornament. This theme touches on profound questions about value and changing values: How does the coldly calculable value of money transform into sensual, individual expressiveness?

From means of payment to decoration

A delicate butterfly motif sawn out of a coin: Here, money literally becomes a piece of jewelry.
Coins are far more than just pieces of metal with numbers printed on them. Each coin tells a story and reflects a piece of the culture of its country of origin. It is precisely these stories that appeal to the artist: What was once minted as official currency can, with skill, be transformed into a wearable work of art. For example, a Mexican coin with a butterfly motif becomes a precious pendant – the relief is carefully sawn out, the details artistically highlighted, perhaps refined with gold and accentuated with sparkling stones. For Martin Fiedler, the founder of MoneyArt Berlin, coins are "reflections on the culture and history of a country" – he cuts them out and artistically enhances them until the coin becomes a small work of art.

Interestingly, the idea of ​​wearing coins as jewelry is not new. Historically, people have used coins as portable treasures. Sociologist Georg Simmel noted that the direct use of coins as jewelry often served the purpose of constantly carrying one's wealth —in a sense, to secure and display one's wealth on one's body . Kings and merchants had gold coins crafted into necklaces and diadems to display their wealth. In this sense, coin jewelry was a symbol of possession and power.

Today, however, the meaning of this transformation is changing . When a modern designer like Fiedler transforms coins into jewelry, it's about far more than simply displaying wealth. An old coin may have a low face value—perhaps it's long since obsolete as currency—but through artistic refinement, it is immaterially enhanced . This means that the original monetary value is ignored, indeed literally devalued , in order to give the coin a new, ideal value in the form of gold and design.

When value changes: symbols instead of numbers

There is a deep symbolism in this devaluation . Money as an abstract means of exchange in itself has a rather cold, rational value – a coin is a promise to be able to buy something. As a piece of jewelry, however, the meaning of the coin is completely transformed. The numerical value on the coin fades into the background; instead of numbers, aesthetics and emotional significance now count . The metal, the shape, the motif – all of this appeals to our senses and feelings, not to our intellect as buyers. By wearing a coin on a chain, you are in effect saying: This piece of money is more important to me as a beautiful object than as a means of payment. Its former purchasing power becomes the bearer of personal values .

One could almost speak of a liberated form of money . Liberated from what? Liberated from the obligation to "represent" or "achieve" something in the economic sense. The coin no longer has to buy anything; it can simply be beautiful . In a world where everything else is geared towards utility and functionality, money undergoes a poetic misappropriation in jewelry. It becomes art instead of commerce . Paradoxically, this misappropriation is meaningful: While the material value of money is abolished, it is replaced by an ideal value that can be directly experienced by the wearer and beholder – beauty, history, identity .

Anyone who wears a coin pendant may be wearing a small treasure with a double meaning : on the one hand, the precious metal or the rarity of the coin, and on the other, the message that purchasing power is not the deciding factor. It's a subtle statement. It's an almost provocative demonstration that one doesn't need the money to spend it—one can afford to wear it as a purely decorative item. This shifts the question of value from "What can I buy with it?" to "What story does this piece tell? What personal value does it have for me?" A formerly valid means of payment on a necklace thus becomes a starting point for a conversation about the transience and permanence of values.

Art instead of commerce: sensuality and individuality as a new value

The paradox of money-jewelry reveals a remarkable shift in our values. Money, the ultimate symbol of purchasing power and trade, is deliberately removed from its profane role and transformed into something personal and sensual. A common good becomes an individual artifact. The cool distance of money—it's for everyone and circulates from hand to hand—transforms into the intimacy of a piece of jewelry worn directly against the skin. This is accompanied by a dematerialization : market value no longer counts, but sentimental value .

There is a certain luxury in this act, but a different luxury than the obvious one. It is not the luxury of owning a lot of money, but the luxury of no longer having to think of money as money. Instead, one can enjoy it as a work of art. In a sense, the coin is humanized by this —it now serves individual expression rather than the anonymous economy. Every scratch, every patina on the coin now tells personal stories instead of market transactions.

This transformation from a symbol of purchasing power to an art object demonstrates how changeable meanings are. A shiny pendant that once served as a means of payment for perhaps a hundred people now belongs to one person as part of their identity . Money becomes a symbol of sensuality and individuality , as if in a playful act of re-enchanting a disenchanted world. What once represented only numbers and economic power now stands for creativity, history, and personality .

In the end, the paradox isn't so contradictory as it is enlightening : It shows that value always depends on context. One and the same object – a coin – can be a mere means of payment or a work of art full of meaning. Art not commerce is the motto. By transforming money into jewelry, we remember that true value isn't measured in numbers, but in the resonance a thing triggers in us . Seen in this way, coin jewelry is a special kind of luxury: not ostentatious, but poetic – a luxury that inspires confidence in the power of ideas and appeals to the senses rather than purchasing behavior.