Thebes Amphora Coin Necklace

In the 4th century BC, the city of Thebes stood among the great powers of the Greek world.

Its silver coinage carried imagery that made its origins immediately recognisable.

On one side appeared the distinctive Boeotian shield. Turn the coin over and another object emerged from the silver: an elegant volute-krater, its tall body crowned by handles that curl dramatically towards the rim.

The krater was a familiar object in Greek life. These large vessels were traditionally used for mixing wine with water, and their forms became increasingly elaborate in the hands of Greek potters and metalworkers.

A remarkable silver stater minted at Thebes between 379 and 338 BC survives today in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. At the centre of its reverse stands the volute-krater, framed by Greek letters and enclosed within the irregular edge of the ancient silver coin.

It is this numismatic tradition that lies behind the Thebes Amphora Coin Necklace.

Shinar transforms the ancient silver image into gold, preserving the vessel's tall proportions, curling handles and surrounding lettering within an intentionally irregular coin pendant.

What was once struck into silver and exchanged in the streets of Classical Greece becomes something to be carried once again.

From the coinage of ancient Thebes, a fragment of Classical Greece reimagined in gold.