How to make Rings from coins

Yea, I totally agree. It's just a hobby and in most cases, a hobby becomes an obsession and obsession will run us into debt every time...lol. Most coin rings will run at the lowest starting point around $40-50 based on quality. However, if the coin is rare and like in my avatar photo of on I just made today it retains quality details and not all polished out that you can't even tell what it was, you can get upwards of a thousand dollars for one (again, all based on the value of the coin). I've had people send me very valuable coins, some pure gold and have me make rings out of them. I think people like the idea of wearing something a hundred plus years old and is legible or has meaning such as the date being that it was first created on their birthday, an anniversary or other special something that means something to them on a personal level. This will trump the actual value of a coin every time (at least in my experience).

Tools of the trade? I know some have the most minimal tools possible and you really can get started in the hobby for a couple hundred dollars but I personally have over $3,000 in specialty tools and I still don't have everything. I still plan on getting a quality CNC machine (small for this sized projects). I just dropped $2,000 last week in a quality electroplating kit that will plate in Silver, Nickle, 24k Gold, Copper and Platinum. Particularly nice for those real quality jobs higher paying clients want.

Anyway, thus justifies the cost for many of these rings but yes, you can find quality rings for around $50 and that's my bread in butter of orders.

 

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It was this conversation on coin rings that made me join to check out the forum. This and the fact I'm also a coin collector as well

 

Welcome to Cointalk! Show us your rings!

 

The one in my avatar is one and I could upload some I've made when I get home from work but they sell faster than I make them (not hard as I only do it as a hobby on the side). I'm a retired Vet and the hobby just kind of caught my attention wondering how long it would be before someone in our nation takes the "In God We Trust" off the coin and liked the idea of preserving it in a wearable form. I have 7 more orders this week so after I complete those, I'll upload some images. Thanks for the welcome to your forum.

 

What do you use to antique the finish on the rings?

I have one that is plain, and I'd like to antique it to make the details visible.

 

That's a great idea and you'll have a cheap ring or a cut down trashy tube on your finger that no one with any "taste" would look at twice rather than A VERY UNUSUAL PICE OF ART THAT MANY WILL WANT TO OWN AND ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT. But that's just my stupid opinion.

 

Love the avatar ring. I bought one awhile back made from a silver proof Rhode Island quarter, for my wife. It's our home state, and my wife LOOVES rhode island. It came out very nice.

 

Thanks everyone. To answer your question Mike, it's a Petina finish and you can buy it on Amazon to oxidize your ring. It'll make your ring as dark or black as you want it then you polish the surface with 0000 Steal Wool or 2000+ grit sandpaper to get the detail to stand out. You can also use a polishing mandrel with buffer on a dremel. Here's a link to the Patina finish also called "Liver of Sulfer" https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=liver of Sulfer&rh=i:aps,k:liver of Sulfer

I know as a coin collector, some might get upset at purposely oxidizing a coin but that's why I offer it in a brilliant silver polish or patina like this. Both are very nice but the Petina definitely makes the detail "POP".

 

Exactly, I get a lot of requests for coins that are not just rare but actually represents something in a persons life. A home state as you said, a birth year, anniversary year, a loved ones year of passing, etc. I've had all kinds of personalized requests and is why I prefer doing these double sided rings over (no offense) others who take a ring and polish all the detail off of it. The only time I've actually done that is for a couple who brought me their own coins (brand new mint) because they were getting married in a few months and asked me to do what is known as a full tire (rounded out sides) and highly polished outside that made them both look exactly like a beautiful new set of wedding rings however on the inside I did the Patina where the year of their marriage was left in full detail for them to always have. Although I hate polishing off the detail of the stamping, I thought it was a good idea so I did it for them and the wedding rings came out really sweet looking.

 

You make a good point about coin ring sometimes carrying more value for someone in this form. I got one once but the quality wasn't great, but the idea of having a nice coin ring worn and with me all the time still interests me. I'm sure you do fine work. It sounds like you really enjoy it as well, which is awesome and probably why your work stands out

 

Thanks and honestly yes, I don't see anyone doing this as an actual income earning position. If I were to break down coins lost to splitting in the annealing and stretching process, being anal about not selling or passing on rings with imperfections or wobbles or the mere hours I put into a quality ring, well, I make nothing and lucky to break even. It's simply for the hobby of doing it is all and like with a lot of hobbies, selling your work helps keep it going. If a ring isn't to my standards, I either melt them down into silver ingets or advertise it as a flawed ring and will sell it for what I simply paid for the coin. Thanks for your kind words.

 

Here's a larger blow up of the 1914 Silver in my avatar

and here are two more I made last night for a customer. Both coins were provided by the client and there were a couple flaws in the side of both coins that made it difficult to make (note the slight indent blow 1968 which is his birthdate), but I did what I could with what I had.

1968 Half Dollar (fat tire ring w/ patina - aged w/ no polish)


1936 Crown Pence (flat round standard ring w/ patina - aged w/ no polish)


Both coins were given to me very flawd and not something I would ever post for sale unless it was a sub-standard sale. In fact, even though they were his coins, I only charged him $20/ea for the labor because I wasn't happy with their appearance.

 

I bought the solution for antiquing the rings on Amazon for $10. Thanks for the help. I will try to post before and after pictures!

 

Just an FYI since there are no real instructions on doing this on the bottle, fill a glass with only as much water as you need to submerge your coin so 1/2" deep is plenty. Bring your water to a boil first and then add around 3-5 drops of liver of sulfar (that's all). I thought it looked so light in the glass it wouldn't do anything at first and was pouring it in wasting my patina. Just a few drops in hot water is all you need. Finally, you need to Anneal your coin or ring with a propane torch first before tossing it in the glass of Patina if you want it to stay on long term. If you don't, it'll rub off easily in just a few weeks like tarnish. It only needs to be "pickled" for about 2-10 minutes depending on how dark you want your background). There are other considerations like if you want to polish the coins outer stamping to a bright silver (mine were done as described above because the customer wanted an aged look), you'll need an acid bath of Sparex #2 (also on Amazon) to dip after annealing as it'll remove all burning from the coin after annealing it and this needs to also be don at 1-2 TBSP per Cup of boiling water and before oxidizing. This will allow a brilliant silver finish if you desire instead like the image below.

Finally, after you pickle your coin in the patina, give it a final soaking in a glass of water with 3 TBSP of Baking Soda to stop the oxidation process otherwise even after polishing it will keep wanting to oxidize.

"Lot's of tricks and tips to learn in coin ring making. I still learn new stuff every day". Have Fun!

Just to give you an idea of various background colors from highly polished to blackened Patina, I'll include a few more coin images below for you. Hope this helps with your project bud.

 

You're welcome. That's really what it's about - the enjoyment of doing it. It's also great to create something unique and handmade. Such things are hard to come by nowadays.

 

So true. Before joining this fine forum, I was just doing some reading on the coin rings (like i said, you're always learning new tips and tricks) and read in one of your posts about someone who makes rings out of coins and hammers them out to be completely smooth on both side where no detail can be seen. No offense because we all have our own idea of art and value but so many of you guys were understandably kind of tweaked about it because they were beautiful coins and in the majority agreed, it was a complete loss of a coin over a hundred years old and preservation should be the idea if you're going to change it from it's original state. Many made very valid points of just using Stirling pipes and cutting those, polishing and stretching to size, ect but not to use a coin if you were going to completely erase it from recognition. I totally agree with that idea and I only started out by wanting one of these guys myself which ended up with the obsession that this was really an art and showed (IMO) honor to preserving the coin for ever. As most of you know, if the silvers make it back through circulation to the reserve, they are melted down for their silver content. If you go to a pawn shop, most will not bother selling the coins but also melt them down into bars. Yes, this brings up the value on the coins that do still exist but kind of sad in away to lose a sense of history that you can wear daily. I have a beautiful liberty dollar in pure gold and another in silver from 1895 and it's so cool to think that coin was made 122 years ago during a completely different era and what the coin must have gone through. So for me, it's more than just a ring and I proudly wear them with the "In God We Trust" which between that and the cutting of a cross into many of my rings is sort of my trade mark if you will. Otherwise, most of us can find cheap $20 silver rings on amazon if plain silver was all you wanted.

I'm definitely enjoying the site and friendly conversations here - thank you all for making me feel welcome.

 

I wonder if anyone has ever done this with a gold coin.

EDIT: Apparently people have... http://images.custommade.com/1qqivH...=/custommade-photosets/89112/89112.243269.jpg

 

You're welcome. And thank you for making coin talk a pleasant and interesting place!

 

I've heard of people having their wedding bands made out of a Krugeraand. I don't think this idea is too uncommon

 

Yea, just like your image shows and as Nathan said, you can find some like myself who will do it. It's not cheap and not easy. The reason being because gold softens easier than silver and I have a higher rate of flawing the ring or ending up with an uneven wobble in comparison to silver. The higher cost to make one is because the crafter takes a much higher risk that if it ends up flawed, we need to replace it and is very costly (I'd far rather prefer to replace a clients silver than a gold coin). I've done a few gold rings but what I honestly get more requests to make one from silver then put a thick 24K or 18K Gold or Platinum plating on it with our electroplating machine. Putting a nice thick coat on gives it all the appearance of solid gold you want without the high cost or risk of loss. My machine is a true electroplating machine designed for thick coating and not a brush-on gold electroplate which can only do thin coats.