Another Side of the Coin

      Want to literally feel the weight of history?
      Hang an ancient coin around your neck.
      For $19,900 you can own a rare eight-escudo gold coin -- also known as a Spanish doubloon -- minted in 1717. It's been mounted in a lavish gold setting to make a pendant.
      Or for $38 you can get a 1919 U.S. buffalo nickel in a silver pendant setting.
      That's the price range at Ancient Creations, a shop that opened in the Stratosphere, 2000 Las Vegas Blvd. South, two months ago. It specializes in turning old coins into new jewelry. Not just pendants. It makes and sells rings and earrings, cuff links, tie tacks and bracelets, too.
      There's a fish story behind the origin of the store, which co-owner Gary Raimist, 42, is happy to share.
      He and Allan Sampson -- sole shareholders in the store's corporation -- were deep-sea fishing in Mexico a year and a half ago with a personal friend, Lyle Berman, who just happens to be chairman of the Stratosphere and Grand Casinos Corp., which owns the Stratosphere.
      Raimist and Sampson had both worked as export-import traders in Asia, but were looking for a new business opportunity. They mentioned receiving an offer to buy a shop in Key West, Fla., that sold "sunken treasure," mainly Spanish coins.
      "Lyle said, `I bought an ancient coin (made into jewelry) for my wife,' " Raimist recalled. Noticing Berman's enthusiasm, Raimist and Sampson decided to pursue the coin-jewelry concept, although they didn't purchase the Key West store.
      "She still wears it, to this day," said Berman by telephone, confirming the story. He used to import leather wear for a retail business, and Raimist used to be his company's agent.
      Raimist and Sampson did not know much about old coins to begin with. Raimist described their first reaction when shown some well-preserved specimens: "We were speechless seeing coins that were 2,500 years old, looking at that and seeing how beautiful they were. ... They were crafted before people had electricity or magnification or high-speed drills."
      Escudos have an irregular shape because they date from Spanish colonial times. In that era, the Spanish, to speed coin production, "rolled it (their gold) out like cookie dough and cut it" into slices, Raimist explained. Each slice was stamped to make a coin.
      Ancient Creations also has jewelry made with coins from ancient Greece, Rome, Byzantium, Mongolia, the Holy Land, pre-modern Japan and the colonial Dutch.
      "This is one of my most favorite coins," begins Melat Alem, a shop employee. Alem pulls out a ring containing a Greek coin from 334 B.C. that depicts what she calls the "penance of Hercules," who was a son of the god Zeus. Legend has it that Hercules temporarily served as a slave to Queen Lydia. Alem's ring shows the queen wearing Hercules' confiscated lion's robe.
      One of Raimist's favorite coin images is that of Taras, son of Neptune, the god of the sea. Several coins show Taras as a boy riding a dolphin. According to myth, pirates once captured Taras at sea and threatened to kill him. Taras asked permission to sing before his death. His song captivated his killers, allowing him a chance to dive overboard. Away he rode on a dolphin to safety.
      Name a famous historic person: Jesus, King Edward I, Napoleon, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra. Ancient Creations probably has an old coin minted in his or her image.
      Raimist and Sampson try to design suitable jewelry for the coins. Several Western-style bolo ties, for example, sport old coins depicting bulls.
      One window shopper -- perhaps noting the presence of jewelry with shekels, the type of silver coin supposedly paid to Judas for betraying Christ -- asked Raimist if any of the coins carried jinxes or curses.
      "I told him, `Hey, everyone that (originally) owned one of these is dead,' " recalled Raimist, laughing.
      Although the world's supply of old coins is finite, specimens became available almost daily -- either unearthed in archaeological excavation or sold by a prior owner. "An ancient coin will never be melted down" because its modern value as an artifact exceeds the value of its precious metal content, Raimist said.
      But he cautions shoppers against purchasing his jewelry as an investment: "We don't use the `I' word. ... We're selling art. We're selling jewelry. A numismatist (coin collector) will put them in a safe and never look at them."
      The jewelry at Ancient Creations is meant to be held and worn. The settings are designed to have minimal contact with the coins, Raimist said. In most cases, even the reverse face can still be viewed.
      But Robert W. Hoge, curator at the American Numismatic Association in Colorado Springs, Colo., said coin purists scorn such jewelry.
      "Just the process of mounting (the coins into settings) puts stress on old metal," he warned. Ancient coins change considerably over time, due to temperature and humidity, which makes them fragile.
      A jewelry setting can "rub and leave little marks," which lower a coin's value, Hoge added. Plus, the wear and tear of knocking a piece of jewelry against furniture and other objects could cause deterioration.
      Hoge said he is aware of various contemporary ventures that incorporate authentic old coins into jewelry. But even that's not a new idea. Some coins are found with telltale old markings -- such as holes -- that show they were once worn.
      Raimist recently moved his family from California to Las Vegas to open Ancient Creations. The other owner, Sampson, is in the process of moving his family here from California. Raimist said they are negotiating to open a high-end Ancient Creations in the Forum Shops at Caesars, too.
      Both partners are fathers of school-age children, and welcome groups of students to their store for historical field trips.