A penny saved may be a penny earned, but for one Northern Michigan gentleman coins are the canvas he creates on.
His hand-cut coins become works of art. It’s a practice started in the Middle Ages when knights would pierce their logo into a coin.
His dad taught him back in the mid ‘80s while growing up on Beaver Island. He is always answering the number one question.
“It’s always a rumor that it’s illegal to destroy money. I have to answer a lot of questions about that,” says Jeremy Barrett.
So, what’s the answer?
“It’s not illegal to deface the money if done without fraudulent intent,” explains Jeremy.
And his intent is to create cool things like pendants, key chains, and golf ball markers, but Jeremy’s claim to fame is jig saw puzzles.
“As a joke to a customer who always tried to stump me, I said, ‘I’ll make jigsaw puzzles! You are never gonna stump me.’ I thought hmm, I could do that. Took me a couple of months to figure out the process, but over the years it’s turned into my, I’m in over 55 countries with jigsaw puzzles,” says Jeremy.
It’s a slow process and his cutting blades are so very thin. He breaks about 4,000 a year! Everything is so small. How’s his eyesight?
“I was blessed with really good eyes. That’s one thing that’s a big help, I was blessed with really good eyes. I have the equivalent of 20-10. When I was young, I used a lot of light and eye protection,” explains Jeremy.
He does about 14 shows a season and sells his coins .
The one and only Willie Nelson ordered some earrings for himself and friends!
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