French jewelry merges with coins

In modern history, the mint has produced fine art medallions in addition to coins Today, the French mint has state-of-the-art enameling, engraving, and jewelry workshops in which more than 300 craftsmen produce gold coins, medallions, and official decorations The Nov.

5, 2018, issue of Art World magazine described the partnership between the mint and the jeweler as calling for "Their respective craftsmen to marry their ancestral traditions to produce a collection of limited-edition coins - part jewelry, part numismatic collectible - to appeal to connoisseurs of high craftsmanship." Monnaie de Paris Marketing and Development Director Claude Giffin said, "The monnaie identified Boucheron as one of the most innovative of French jewelers Given that collector coins evoke celebrations, we decided that it would be fantastic for the 2018 edition of Excellence la Française to coincide with Boucheron's 160th anniversary." Art World wrote, "A major perennial challenge for the mint when collaborating with a jeweler is to translate the design of a three-dimensional piece of jewelry onto a two-dimensional coin." Choisne said, "We had dreamed of coins that would not be round, but more like a piece of jewelry with a realistic design to give them more life That produced the ivy-leaf coin in high relief" French Mint Creative Director and Principal Engraver Joaquim Jimenez added, "We agreed that the coins would represent ivy growing out of Boucheron's maison and onto the Place Vendôme, virtually invading the square and its paved surface.

For the main coin, we engraved the piece and Boucheron produced the diamond-set leaf, which was then fitted onto the coin It was a work of high precision and true collaboration." . Source