Money Clip

Does anyone have a good idea that they might want to share on a
durable money clip design that is more than a tension bend style? I
have a customer that likes to have lots of bills in it sometimes and
not so much others and has broken several "bobbie pin"style money
clips and came to me for a solution. Ron Kreml

Ron,

I just bought a money clip recently, and it’s essentially in the
shape of a large paper-clip. The small bend has a small, coin-sized
"design element", but I also saw some that had no decorations at all.
The wire is about 12ga, spring hard sterling.

-Alan

Alan Derr
Alpha Designs
Westford, MA USA
@Alan_Derr

Ron, We had the same problem a few years ago, and worked out a design
for a money clip that will hold a few bills or a lot of bills. We did
one in 14k yellow gold for the customer and a few in silver and both
worked very well. I made one for myself and have used it a few years
and it is great. If e-mail me your address, I will make a copy of
our plans and send it to you.

Jimmy Eriksson
J. Eriksson Gallery
Scottsdale, Arizona

Ever see the type that work on the principle of a cam? Imagine a
"bobby-pin" type, except the smaller end is substituted by an "L"
shaped piece that swivels. The short arm of the “L” pivots past the
axis and snaps down on the money while the longer arm rests parallel
to the other side of the clip. Clear as mud, I know. I can e-mail
you a sketch if you can’t picture it. This may help, if the
formatting comes out right on the viewer’s end:

pivot (a hinge, really)
'
o___ <long arm
||___ <money goes between these two upper and lower parts

    ^

short arm pressing down on the arm beneath it

Hi Ron, This question came at a perfect time. I have a customer who’s
husband uses the binder clips (the small black triangles with two
silver wires that bend back to open the black triangle up) and it
works great!(Is that what you meant by tension bend style?) She has
asked me if I could have one made for her in 14kt gold for a present
for her husband. Since I am a gem dealer and not a bench jeweler I
am looking for a jeweler to make this type of clip for me.(I haven’t
had a chance to ask the jewelers I know yet if this is feasible) Diane

@benad
coming soon: http://www.sweetgemstones.com
still closing http://www.jdfindings.com
(201) 541 4160

What about using a spring-type clasp as a money clip? I’m thinking
of something like the mechanism on a clip-back earring only larger.
Would something like that work as a money clip? – Vicki

G’day; how about making a money clip from sheet metal: if you’re rich,
(relatively) low carat gold (low because you need it stiff and a bit
springy) and if you’re (relatively) poor, sterling. The sheet could be
0.5 mm thick, around 4 - 6 cms wide and 5 - 8 cms long (you set the
sizes) and have a simple pierced tongue which presses out to hold the
notes. The ‘tongue’ could be very simple like a rectangle with rounded
corners, or quite elaborate - a human figure, an abstract design with
further piercings … There’s no limit to your ingenious artistry and
skill. The tongue could be double folded up at the top to enable a
relatively thick wad of money to be held (no use to me) and the lower
end slightly curled up to enable notes to be easily slipped in. there
could be all sorts of wise things engraved upon it (including the
pleasure of collecting hoards of money, or sayings like a fool and it
are soon parted…) It could even be studded with cz’s for friends
like mine, or diamonds for friends like yours and your customer’s…
Does your mind boggle? If you don’t want to polish and polish (the
polish wouldn’t last long anyway) you could make a small (5mm) ball
ended polished punch and go all over the thing lightly to give a
pleasing peened pattern and add stiffness to the metal… You could go
on from here. Much more interesting than a simple boring old wire
clip. But then I have never needed to have a facility to store
money. Unfortunately. (you’ll need a fixed font to make sense of
this:–)

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Cheers,
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua Nelson NZ