Loving the Unloved: Holed Connecticut Copper

This 1786 Connecticut copper ceased being money a long time ago.

It is heavily worn with what appears to be a planchet flaw (or deep gouge) scarring the upper cheek. Deep cuts, now worn shallow, reveal old injuries. Edge bumps, too, are smoothed and broaden the rim.

A colonial collector will find the bust familiar. But, my eye goes directly to the wound. It is dramatic. And its on the face -- we can't help but flinch. 

I put this one to good use.
Placed on the back of a door, it protects entrance.

The nail hole is dramatic too.

A rounded nail was pounded thru. The sprue on the reverse is pronounced and worn to a dull sheen. Hence, the bust looked out. The coin is slightly bent behind the bust from the blow. 

Was it nailed to door or post?

It was not unusual to nail an old copper near an entrance: door, window, or hearth. Here, evil could enter. Studies of apotropaic magic in New England suggest that the hearths were particularly vulnerable – they could not be shut.

A copper piece could repel witches. And witches were feared well into the eighteenth century (and beyond in a few cases). Sometimes, the copper was placed to appease the divine – a foundation sacrifice meant to protect against wind, hale, and other violence.

It could have been holed for other reasons. However, it does not show thus stretch marks of suspension. We can't know.

This Connecticut copper was already old when it was holed – a piece in the box perhaps. Or, a family token passed down. Who knows? 

A holed coin is no accident. It was a specific action. Planned. With a goal. The hole marks a point in time when the coin entered a second (or third) life.

I am sensitive to this action, as any necromancer would be. Just as an old scar on my arm reminds me of a dog bite; this lowly piece has a story to tell – not a story by association to a state or era, but its own story.