The Old Oak Penny

Hand-Pierced Oak Tree Necklace from a Recycled 1966 British Penny

Some things are worth keeping.

This old British penny was struck in 1966 and once passed from hand to hand as ordinary money. Decades later, rather than melt away that history, I have kept the coin intact and worked within it.

Using a fine jeweller’s saw, the centre of the penny has been carefully pierced away to reveal an old oak tree, its trunk rising above the original date and its branches spreading into a canopy of individually cut leaves and tiny acorns.

The coin becomes the frame. The history remains part of the piece.

The Story Held in Copper

Old pennies have a character that new metal cannot reproduce.

They carry age, wear, tiny marks and the unmistakable warmth of old copper. Each one has already had a life before it reaches my bench.

I deliberately preserve as much of that original character as possible.

The beaded edge of the coin remains visible, along with the original date beneath the roots. Rather than disguising what the piece once was, the jewellery celebrates it.

This is not a tree added to a penny.

The tree is the penny.

The Oak

The oak has been associated with strength, endurance, protection and deep roots for centuries.

It is a tree that seems to measure time differently from us. Generations can pass beneath the same branches while the tree continues quietly growing.

That symbolism feels particularly fitting when the oak is cut from an old coin.

Both have endured.

Both carry their years openly.

And both remind us that age can add meaning rather than diminish it.

Leaves, Acorns and New Beginnings

The canopy is filled with individual oak leaves and tiny acorns, each pierced and refined by hand.

The acorn carries its own symbolism. From something small comes something capable of surviving for centuries.

It makes this piece particularly meaningful as a symbol of family, ancestry, resilience, new beginnings and the things we hope will continue long after us.

A Piece About Roots

The Old Oak Penny can simply be worn because you love trees, old coins and handcrafted jewellery.

But pieces like this often gather more personal meanings.

• A birth year
• A parent or grandparent
• A family connection
• A place that still feels like home
• Strength through difficult years
• A reminder of where you came from

The meaning does not have to be decided by me.

The oak leaves enough room for you to bring your own story to it.

Made Slowly at the Hairy Growler Bench

Each pendant begins with an original British penny.

The design is marked onto the coin before tiny entry holes are drilled into the areas that will eventually become open space.

A very fine jeweller’s saw blade is then threaded through each opening and the background is removed piece by piece.

The branches, leaves, acorns and negative spaces are all created by hand before the surface is refined, detailed and finished.

No two coins wear in exactly the same way and no two pieces leave the bench completely identical.

Those small differences are not imperfections. They are evidence that somebody made it.

Product Details

• Handcrafted from an original recycled British penny
• Coin shown dated 1966 – choose your year
• Oak Tree of Life design
• Individual oak leaves and acorn details
• Original coin rim and date retained
• Traditional hand saw-piercing technique
• Warm aged copper finish
• Individually made at the Hairy Growler bench
• Natural coin wear and handmade variations will differ from piece to piece

An Heirloom Made from Something Ordinary

A penny was never intended to become precious.

It was made to be spent, lost in pockets, dropped into jars and passed across shop counters.

That ordinary history is part of what makes transforming one so satisfying.

Instead of becoming scrap metal, an old coin survives with its date, wear and memories still visible.

What was once currency becomes something personal.

Something to wear.

Something to pass on.

From Currency to Heirloom

This penny has already lived one life.

Now an oak grows from it.

Once money. Now something worth keeping.