Turning my old silver to a wedding ring

perdidogringo

Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2011
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El Dorado
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Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone here has ever considered using some of your old, more common silver coins or cobs to make a ring? I'm a veteran metal detectorist and have found my share of old silver over the last few years. Although quite old (all the way from the early 1500s to the 1900s), most of it is not particularly valuable or uncommon where I live.

I'm getting married in 6 months and l while looking at wedding rings online, I don't feel that any ring I buy would be half as personal or special as any of the cobs/coins I have been fortunate to come across. Does anyone know of a professional service who will take old silver coins and melt them down to make a men's (or woman's even) wedding ring? Thank you in advance for any ideas.

By the way, my fiancee is also an avid metal detectorist and has found many old silver coins as well.
 

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DizzyDigger

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Dec 9, 2012
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Concrete, WA
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I would suggest searching for a smaller, independently owned
jewelry store, as they often specialize in more custom jewelry.

Back in 1986 I wanted a certain style of ring made for what would
become wife 2.0. Didn't have much to spend, and stopped in at a
dumpy little hole-in-the-wall jewelry store up in Sylmar, Ca.

There wasn't much to see in the cases...so I asked the old fellow
behind the counter if they did any custom work. I could tell he'd seen
a lot of miles in life, and his throat was all bandaged up. He could
hear, but was unable to speak, so, after telling him what I was looking
for, he wrote down that I should come back in a week. He didn't even
ask me for a deposit.

Went back a week later, and he had made a mold, and cast the ring
in 18k. It was unpolished and rough, but he wanted to make sure that
was exactly what I wanted before he finished it up.

He then went over to a small safe, took out a container with
about 200 small diamonds (I needed 10), and then sat me down
in front of a microscope. He poured about 50 of them out on a
black cloth, and wanted me to look at them under the microscope
and pick out the 10 I'd like him to set in the ring. I paid him half
of our agreed on price.

Went back a week later and he had it complete. It was absolutely
perfect, and more than I ever expected. Had I found that same ring
at one of the major jewelers, it would have cost me 3X as much,
and would not have had the same quality of diamonds.

This guy had a dumpy old store, and was fighting throat cancer.
What he still had was a great attitude, plus the patience and skills
to do that quality of work. I appreciated his efforts as much as he
appreciated the business.
 

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perdidogringo

perdidogringo

Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2011
411
927
El Dorado
Detector(s) used
Equinox 900, Fisher CZ-21, Garrett Pro-Pointer AT
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks for that interesting anecdote, Dizzy. I would think I could find someone like that here in St. Petersburg, Russia. I'll start looking around.
 

against the wind

Gold Member
Jul 27, 2015
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Port Allegheny, Pennsylvania
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Those rings will hold a great sentiment.
On occasion, I check in on coinringcrafters.com
The people on that forum do some amazing work, converting Coins into Rings.
 

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Truth

Gold Member
Apr 13, 2016
14,332
32,142
Abita Springs La....Born in New Orleans
🥇 Banner finds
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Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
My wedding ring is made from a 1800’s Morgan silver dollar and the guy made my wife a ring out of the middle of the same coin, so we have the same silver. She lost a diamond out of her wedding ring at work so she only wears it for work. Good luck and congratulations.
 

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perdidogringo

perdidogringo

Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2011
411
927
El Dorado
Detector(s) used
Equinox 900, Fisher CZ-21, Garrett Pro-Pointer AT
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My wedding ring is made from a 1800’s Morgan silver dollar and the guy made my wife a ring out of the middle of the same coin, so we have the same silver. She lost a diamond out of her wedding ring at work so she only wears it for work. Good luck and congratulations.

Hi Truth,

That sounds like exactly what I'd like to do! Do you have the contact details of the the guy you used?
 

sprailroad

Silver Member
Jan 19, 2017
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4,131
Grants Pass, Oregon
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All Treasure Hunting
My wedding ring is made from a 1800’s Morgan silver dollar and the guy made my wife a ring out of the middle of the same coin, so we have the same silver. She lost a diamond out of her wedding ring at work so she only wears it for work. Good luck and congratulations.

I believe it was Truth's ring that I had seen a picture of awhile back, and really admired it. I have several uncirculated Morgan's and wanted to do the same thing, my wife had taken a picture of it, and I did go to the two well known jewelry stores in town here, and they did not know how to re-create a ring from a Silver Dollar to look like Truth's, I might have to go to "Lou's e anna".
 

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