Coin pendants

Many cultures have rituals involving coins or other forms of currency used as pendants. This practice reflects an apparent contradiction: the coins are chosen for their intrinsic value, but once worn as items of jewellery, they are withdrawn from circulation. For this reason, it is generally old coins that were turned into items of jewellery. In the Middle Ages, old coins were sometimes turned into pendants simply by piercing holes in them and sewing them to a garment or hanging them on a chain.