Bad Jewelery Made From Coins

Must have been made a long time ago
when the silver price was very low.

Maundy coins of this period were often pierced for jewelry making.
A much smaller proportion of the general population at that time was interested in coin collecting.

Dang.

Given the dates on the coins, I am guessing that it was made in 1897, the Queen's diamond jubilee (60th anniversary of reign). Cheap and not-so-cheap Queen Victoria souvenirs of all kinds were being made and sold back in 1897; it wouldn't surprise me that some jeweller, rather than making and selling their own medals, bought a few surplus Maundy sets and "added value" by turning them into a brooch.

They could have tried to use the same date for a matching pair.

People who try to make coins into jewelery often begin with gold plating. This does not necessarily go well — I recall getting an Eisenhower dollar at the bank once, which I carried for a year or more, with a very weak and uneven plating. It looked rather sick. The Swiss 1 centime pieces on these cufflinks are unevenly plated, so that the color varies noticeably (to the eye, under daylight, at least). In addition, one of them has the stem of the cufflink bent over at an angle, while the other sticks straight out. Both styles are common, and either would be fine as long as both were done the same way.

Unfortunately my photos don't show either annoyance with particular clarity.

I would wear them. If I ever dressed up enough to need them.

Fascinating stuff, yes!