LONDON — Jeweler Dominic Jones is taking all of his coins to Las Vegas, but not to spend on the slot machines, or to blow on a caviar and Champagne experience at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. Instead, he’ll be telling their story.
His latest collection for 886, the high-end jewelry collection by The Royal Mint, is inspired by British coins, and coin-making techniques, and some of it’s even made from the currency’s gold offcuts.
Since he joined The Royal Mint as creative director for jewelry and homeware in 2022, Jones has become more than just a designer. He’s now an archaeologist, historian and preservationist, using The Royal Mint’s coins, and metalworking expertise, to create collections that keep the institution’s design traditions alive.
“There are heritage brands — and then there’s this. I have more than 1,100 years of history to play with,” said Jones, whose second home is The Royal Mint museum in Llantrisant, Wales, which houses coins, medals, artwork and minting equipment from past centuries.
He’s so far made three collections for The Royal Mint, and each one has been an exercise in “plumbing the depths of history and the future,” he said. The collections sell online, at Selfridges, and at brand’s shop in London’s Burlington Arcade, off Piccadilly.
The Royal Mint is one of the world’s oldest companies. It was founded in 886 under Alfred the Great, and is now owned by the British government and managed by the Treasury. It is best known as the maker of Britain’s coins and commemorative currency.
Stacked earrings inspired by the shape of pound coins from the 886 Royal Mint collection.
Jones’ jewelry collection is part of the mint’s bid to stay relevant and adapt to an increasingly cashless society. Of late, it has been diversifying and helping its craftspeople transfer their design, engraving and enameling skills from coins to gold and silver jewelry.
The Royal Mint has also invested millions of pounds in a major sustainability program. It has partnered with Canadian clean technology firm Excir to become the first luxury brand to create jewelry on site that is made entirely from gold recovered from consumer electronic waste, such as mobile phones, computers and laptops.
According to The Royal Mint, less than 20 percent of electronic waste is currently recycled worldwide and 7 percent sits disused in people’s homes. This means that gold, silver, copper and other highly valued metals, valued $57 billion, are mostly discarded as opposed to being collected for treatment and reuse.
The Royal Mint has also been working with Betts Metals Group to recover silver from medical X-ray film, relieving U.K. and Irish hospitals of storage contracts and solving a waste issue in a way that injects funds back into the National Health Service.
Sean Millard, chief growth officer at The Royal Mint, said that 886 “offers an entirely new narrative in precious metals, ushering in an exciting chapter not only for [the company] but for the wider industry. We are here to challenge perceptions around precious metals and to help secure the future of British craftsmanship.”
He added that, in the coming years, the Royal Mint plans to work with increasing amounts of e-waste, and is aiming to help more people train to become jewelers. “We now have 10 full-time jewelers who have come from the currency business,” he said, adding “our ambition is limitless.”
A signet ring with ridges inspired by pound coins.
Jones, who plans to take pieces from all three collections to Las Vegas, works with 18-karat and 9-karat gold and silver recovered by the Royal Mint. Prices range from around $290 for a pair of huggie hoop silver earrings to $11,800 for an 18-karat gold necklace.
Designs from his latest collection feature the distinctive vertical ridges inspired by the sides of chunky one-pound coins from years past. Pieces include a hinged bangle in 9-karat yellow gold; long drop earrings in 18-karat yellow gold; and a square signet ring set with a lab-grown diamond.
His Caustics collection uses a “caustic” light-reflecting technique inspired by the work of Sir Isaac Newton. When light hits the front of the convex pendant, a design — a star, four-leaf clover, horseshoe or heart — is projected onto the nearest surface.
The newest collection also looks back in time, to 15th century England when enterprising criminals would “clip” the rims of coins in order to steal the precious metal.
The practice became so widespread that in 1416 it became an act of treason to “clip, wash or file money,” and the crime carried a death sentence.
Jones was captivated by the idea, and decided to have a pile of coins struck, which he then clipped himself.
The clippings, he said, “made such elegant forms — like curls — which I made into a cascading fountain for a necklace.” He also designed long, twisting earrings studded with lab-grown diamonds.
The cascading necklace made from curly coin clippings.
Most of the 886 jewelry is made at the mint’s manufacturing facilities in Llantrisant, while some is made in Italy.
Jones made his debut in 2009, and was the first jewelry designer to win the British Fashion Council’s NewGen award, which he scooped a total of five times between 2010 and 2014.
He is known for his spare, androgynous collections and has in the past consulted for brands including Fabergé and Thierry Mugler. He also collaborated with Amanda Harlech on the Harlot & Bones jewelry collection.
Dominic Jones