Do you like my pants? They're made of money!

December 20, 2008 2:47 PM

What are some good looking world coins, the size of a US Nickel or smaller? It's for my pants.

I would like to replace the buttons on all my pants with cool coins from all over. What world coins look great and are not huge.

So far I've started with the ¥100 coin, which it turns out is about as big as I can use (~22mm). A US quarter is too big to fit through the button hole.

posted by aubilenon to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (11 answers total)

I like the British £1 coin. It's really thick so I think it'd make a great button.
posted by zsazsa at 3:00 PM on December 20, 2008

It's for my pants is a wonderful explanation.

The smallest Taiwanese coin (with the plum) is pretty nice.
posted by wintersweet at 3:53 PM on December 20, 2008

Second the pound. It's a dense little nugget of money.

The Japanese 5 Yen coin (and Danish 5 Krone) could be interesting with the built-in hole.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:12 PM on December 20, 2008

The reverse of the 10 krona (Sweden) coin has the 3 crowns, which would sort of match the drilling pattern you used on the 100 yen coin. It's also pretty thick.
posted by milkrate at 5:46 PM on December 20, 2008

That's so cool! You should make more and sell them on Etsy.
posted by majikstreet at 6:03 PM on December 20, 2008

Your profile's googlemaps location says you're in San Francisco. If you are, why not take a jaunt up the Coit Tower and scope out some of the awesome international coins people shove onto the window ledges? I was just there the other day, and marveled at all the different countries (Latvia, Australia, India, Israel, Colombia, Austria, Japan, Great Britain, Sweden, even old pre-Euro lira coins from Italy and other such treasures.)

My vote is for the Aussie $2 - solid, small, has a picture of the Queen on one side and an Aborigine on the other. Or the $1 coins, which have a variety of different centennial, Olympics-related, and other such designs on the tails.

And if you need any, I have a few lying about.
posted by po at 6:12 PM on December 20, 2008

I may be biased, but the Canadian nickel has a rockin' beaver on it. Or use the obverse of our penny--a nice maple leaf for you!
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:06 PM on December 20, 2008

Some of the Hong Kong coins have wavy edges. The two-dollar one is about the size of a US quarter, and the 20-cent one is about the size of a US dime.

I always think the Bhutan Ngultrum coin is beautiful because of its intricacy.
posted by Houstonian at 4:06 AM on December 21, 2008

You can pick up bags of old rubles (pre-1998) on eBay. They are essentially worthless coins since Russia changed their coin design after the 1998 economic crash and introduced new coins. There are several coins that are about the same size as a U.S. nickel.
posted by camworld at 7:49 AM on December 21, 2008

Go to a coin dealer and look. Weight might be an issue.
posted by theora55 at 2:15 PM on December 21, 2008

I have always been very fond of the old New Zealand 5 and 10 cent coins. The 5c was taken out of circulation in 2006, but the shiny new coppery 10c is still very nice.
posted by Miss Otis' Egrets at 2:16 PM on December 21, 2008