Loving the Unloved: Large Cent Jagger Wheel

Holed cents are often dismissed as "junk." But some holes signal that the lowly cent had a second life as a tool. Common types include wheels, lock parts, and gears. A couple of months ago I featured a stitch marker ... today, we will consider a nifty tool for pie-makers.
   Who doesn't like a pie? After all, August is harvest time. There are many fruit pies to be had. I like peach, blueberry, and apple in that order. A pie crimper tool would be helpful right about now.
   Full disclosure: I have never made a pie; I only eat them. But I fully support all the pie-makers of the world.
   Pie crimpers are used for two tasks: cutting the dough and trimming the edges of a pie crust when the top and bottom are already placed. The crimper provides the crimps (small dents) that allow the layers to be fused together.
   The wheel has a zig-zag pattern. It is distinctive and easy to spot on large cents.
   I have been told that making the pie crust is one of the most demanding -- and frustrating -- tasks of the pie-maker. Pie crimper to the rescue!

   Pie crimpers have been called many things: jagger wheels, jagger irons, jaggers. They have also been called coggling wheels and dough spurs. Of course, most folks simply name them concretely by function: pie crimper, dough cutter, pie edger and so on.
   I like: jagger wheel. It has a nice ring to it; plus, it is just obscure enough to raise an eyebrow.
   Jagger wheels have been made from wood, tin, brass, and bone. In fact, many scrimshaw jagger wheels are known. I guess hungry, home-sick sailors found comfort in making these tools (and thinking about the pies awaiting them). I found an interesting article about bone jaggers in the June 1922 issue of The Magazine Antiques (authored by Wellington Haze).
   Large cents provided a ready-made wheel for fashioning into a jagger. In an informal poll on the Early American Coppers Facebook site
, I discovered that several collectors have one or two jagger wheels. They are popular and scarce (but not rare).
   Jagger wheels are just cool!