The anonymity of coins is part of their charm—they might have been anywhere, or done anything. But there’s something to be said for coins that have seen a more particular use.
Trench-art. I don’t know if the piece(s) below fall into that category. Somehow I don’t think so. Americans stationed in the Pacific during WWII destroyed a lot of Australian silver making coin-rings and other souvenirs, but I wonder if this bracelet wasn’t made by some local artisan for sale to the servicemen—both Australian and American—who had participated in the New Guinea campaign.
All but one of the remaining pieces of this onetime bracelet are Australian coins struck at San Francisco in 1943; its heart-shaped “New Guinea 44” centerpiece was fashioned from a 1943 Melbourne-mint florin.
There’s still room for a lot of guesswork. Was this an individual’s effort—unfinished because of a wartime death perhaps sent home with a soldier or sailor’s personal effects?
Or maybe simply bought as a wartime souvenir of service and taken back to the States for a sweetheart?, or maybe just to sit out the decades in a footlocker in some attic or garage? Maybe. But then why was the bracelet disassembled?
My favorite guess? A sixpence is loose, and one is missing. So my hope is that the bracelet was taken apart for a lucky sixpence for a daughter’s wedding—or maybe marriage to the original sweetheart.
v.
