I (Chad, not Don) collect ancient coins. I thought it would be nice to set the inexpensive small bronze Roman coins as pendents, but no one makes a premade bezel for the unusual sizes and shapes that ancient coins come in. Many have ragged edges, and 3rd and 4th century Rome had pretty poor quality control on sizes. The bezel that I developed will work for most ancient coins, and definately would also work for nice round modern coins.

Here is how you do it:

This is a typical late Roman bronze coin. Note the rough edges.

Since this particular coin is very thin, I am using the smallest plain bezel that I have. First you file the end flat.

Next, shape it around the stone and mark for your cut.

After soldering, shape your bezel to your coin. It needs to be a fairly tight fit for this project. Notice the gaps because of the rough edge of the coin. This should not be a big problem. When setting the coin at the end, these should mostly be covered. Incidentally, if you don't know how to silversmith to begin with, we have an instructional CD Rom that teaches you everthing you need to know to get started. Click here for information on ordering it.

Next, I cut about a three inch piece of 18 gauge sterling round wire.

I use my ring mandrel to roughly shape it how I need it to be to fit inside the bezel.

It is pretty easy to eyeball it almost to the perfect size.

Trim the wire until it fits snugly into the bezel, touching all the way around.

Usually only one piece of solder is required.

Here it is after soldering. Now we have a step in the bezel to seat the coin against.

Next, I use some 14 gauge square wire for an outside border

Again, I used the ring mandrel to get it into the approximate size and shape.

Putting the solder snippets right on the soldering surface is the easiest way to attach this part.

After fluxing thoroughly, move the piece over the solder snippets.

Solder.

For this one, I actually had to add a couple of more snippets to get the solder joint to my liking.

Clean up the bottom with a bastard file.

Design a bail to suit yourself.

More work on the bail.

Finish the bail, and then soak in the pickle for a while.

Here is the finished setting with the coin in place.

This method could also be used for stones, if you want another way to create an open backed pendent.

Finally, set your coin, polish, and you are done.

Don has come up with a great way to set coins or just about anything! Click Here to see how.

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