{"product_id":"bvlgari-monete-18k-yellow-gold-ancient-greek-coin-pendant-necklace","title":"Bvlgari Monete 18K Yellow Gold Ancient Greek Coin Pendant Necklace","description":"\u003cp\u003eThere is a particular kind of object that transcends the category of jewelry entirely — one that carries within it not just craftsmanship, but civilization itself. The Bvlgari Monete necklace is precisely that. At its center sits a genuine ancient Greek silver coin struck in Boeotian Thebes between 197 and 146 BC, more than two thousand years before Bvlgari's Roman goldsmiths set it in 18-karat yellow gold and placed it on a curb-link chain of exceptional weight and refinement.\u003cbr\u003eBvlgari introduced the Monete collection in 1967, and the concept was as audacious as it was visionary: mount authenticated ancient coins — Greek, Roman, Byzantine — in fine gold bezels and let history speak for itself. The house had always drawn deeply from its Roman roots, and this collection crystallized that instinct into something wearable. Early Monete pieces passed through the hands of Elizabeth Taylor, Gina Lollobrigida, and a generation of women for whom jewelry was an expression of serious connoisseurship rather than mere ornament. The collection remains one of the most intellectually compelling things Bvlgari has ever produced.\u003cbr\u003eThe coin at the center of this necklace is a Boeotian hemidrachm or drachm from the city of Thebes — the dominant polis of the Boeotian Confederacy and home to the Sacred Band, the legendary military unit that checked Spartan dominance in the fourth century BC. The obverse bears a laureate portrait in the Hellenistic tradition, while the reverse, identified in Bvlgari's own engraved bezel inscription as Boeotia–Thebes, 197–146, carries the standing figure characteristic of late Boeotian coinage. The date range is significant: this is a coin of the final years of the Boeotian Confederacy, minted in the decades just before Rome's subjugation of Greece following the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC. That historical weight is not incidental — it is the point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 18-karat yellow gold curb chain is substantial, its broad flat links polished to a deep, warm luster that offsets the antiqued silver of the coin with striking deliberateness. The box clasp is signed BVLGARI and stamped MADE IN ITALY with the 750 hallmark, confirming both authenticity and gold content. The bezel itself, machined to a smooth dome profile, holds the coin securely while keeping it fully legible from both sides — a reversible pendant that invites the eye to move between obverse and reverse, between portrait and legend.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom an investment standpoint, this piece operates on two distinct axes that rarely converge in a single object. The numismatic value of authenticated ancient Greek coinage has strengthened consistently over the long term, driven by the finite and fixed supply of pre-Roman Hellenistic coins and sustained collector demand globally.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bvlgari","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47729705025757,"sku":"0003929","price":50000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/7828\/2405\/files\/bvlgari-monete-18k-yellow-gold-ancient-greek-coin-pendant-necklace-0003929-1230901807.jpg?v=1775062808","url":"https:\/\/www.opulentjewelers.com\/products\/bvlgari-monete-18k-yellow-gold-ancient-greek-coin-pendant-necklace","provider":"Opulent Jewelers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}