Collecting Jamestown. Part 23. Bent, Holed, & Folded: Introductory Chapter (2nd Half)

Here is the second half of the Introductory Chapter of the upcoming Book: Bent, Holed, & Folded: Coin Talismans for protection against misfortune and witchcraft in Colonial Jamestown.
The pictures and endnotes are not included here -- but I added a cool picture of a talismanic coin from Jamestown that appears in another chapter.

I hope this intro whets your thirst for the topic ... that said, if you like coins, magic, and witchcraft, you will enjoy this book! 


...     At this point, I should remind readers of the difference between primary and secondary uses of coins. We are all familiar with their primary use as money. To the spender, a coin was nothing more than stamped bullion worth what could be bought. In this guise, a penny could be confused with a loaf of sweet bread.

Alternatively, some coins were removed from circulation and used for magical purposes. No longer money, these pieces were imbued with extraordinary significance. Hence, a coin became a talisman that could summon supernatural forces. In this guise, a penny was much more than a loaf.

But what powers were ascribed to talismanic coins? I’m sure you have heard that a copper piece nailed to a rafter could fend off wind, hail, and lightning. And when you step out after dark, coins worn as amulets could protect you from demons that hover in the mist. How about the old adage to carry a crooked sixpence so as to bring good fortune in the marketplace?

This twice-bent halved Elizabeth I sixpence was found in a
pit near the warehouse of John White dating to 1630-40s.
The coin is uniquely bent into thirds reflecting the
English tradition of apotropaic coin bending.

            All of these pieces were marked to signify their secondary use. Some coins were bent. Others were holed and worn about the neck. Sometimes a coin was bent and holed. More elaborately, a coin might be rolled or folded in a specific fashion.

            These are just a few of the ways that coins have been marked as talismans. Here, I define talisman broadly as an object (not necessarily a coin) that can protect a person from harm and/or provide special opportunities in life. The word itself is derived from the Arabic Talsam and Greek Telesma, translated to mean: “I complete or perform a rite.”  

More specifically, amulets are considered to be talismans that are protective against evil forces. Some are known as “devil chasers.” Adding to our lexicon, the term charm is used to denote a rite or the object associated with it. However, if a charm is used to undo or “throw back” a rite (for example, to reverse a bewitching), it is called a counter-charm. Despite scholarly objections, I have found that most folks use the terms talisman, amulet, and charm interchangeably.

We have yet to define magic. Simply put, magic involves the manipulation of occult forces via a rite to produce a desired outcome. Healing and protection are the chief goals of magic, as we want to be healthy and safe above all else. In academic circles, protective magic is described as apotropaic. Other popular ways to use magic include finding lost objects, identifying evildoers, and foretelling the future.

There are two general laws that characterize magical properties.³ The first is the law of similarity. “Like produces like,” the saying goes. Hence, a coin depicting the image of a king carries the power of the king. This is known as image magic. The second is the law of contagion. Objects that have been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance. In this way, a coin touched by a king carries the power of the king.

These laws defy our modern sensibilities, but similarity and contagion are everywhere. For example, we venerate images of Elvis Presley. He is The King, and we want a piece of him. In fact, many of us would love to place an Elvis cookie jar on our kitchen counter. This is akin to image magic.

But also, look how we venerate anything he touched. In fact, many of us would love to hang his silk shirt in our closet, not to wear, but to have a piece of him. This is akin to contagion magic. Either way, we are not surprised when otherwise rational folks pay large dollars for The King. As we shall see, these laws of magic were embraced during post-medieval times.

Now that we have some ideas about talismans and magic, we are off to Jamestown. This was the first permanent English settlement in America. At first landing, they were but 104 souls, alone on an unfamiliar continent and surrounded by natives who did not like the intrusion. Most of the colonists died within a few months. But they kept coming and the settlement survived.

The Jamestown settlers left behind a motley assortment of coins. Several were acutely bent. Others were holed. A sixpence was fashioned into a pendant. Another piece was rolled into a bead. These were deliberate actions for sure, but for what purpose?

Old Sails. Plus Ultra Nuremberg Ship Jetton

Many ship jettons have sailed out of Nuremberg.

This is one of the last ones to leave port.

The legend is a familiar one, especially if you collect or know of Spanish Colonial coins. The words -- PLUS ULTRA -- translate to read "more beyond." It became an official motto of Phillip II of Spain during the years of conquest in the Americas. Hence, the motto made an early appearance on the first silver coins minted at the Mexican mint in 1536.

This PLUS ULTRA jetton with sun, moon & stars obverse
dates to about 1800. It does not have mint masters name
or initials on the piece. Can anyone attribute it further?

The phrase "more beyond" is a play on words taken from a medieval map (I am not sure which one) that depicted the western shores of Europe with the great ocean stretching out to the edge. The words -- NON PLVS VLTRA -- were written upon the water suggesting that no lands were located across the ocean.

Of course, Columbus -- and several others before him -- discovered this was not true. In fact, two continents were found. And, they were full of peoples. As such, Phillip II's motto claimed these lands for Spain. The "more beyond" was his.

Consequently, the mint masters in Nuremberg saw this as a pithy motto to place on ship jettons. Great marketing!

This jetton depicts an imposing war ship. The ship sits high among the white caps with several gun decks.

This thin, broad piece has been holed and is wavy. It was nailed or worn at one time. The strength of the details with its brown patina, slightly granular at the edges, imparts a bold look. It is quite attractive -- moreso than a new and shiny one.

One can only wonder where this ship has traveled in the past 300 or so years. I'm sure this jetton was in a junk bin for a while, but before that ... perhaps it was an heirloom or bedside piece. Either way, it conjured up images of the great ships leaving for the New World -- then and now.

Collecting Jamestown. Part 22. Bent, Holed, & Folded: Introductory Chapter (1st Half)

Here is an excerpt from the Intro Chapter of the upcoming book entitled:

Bent, Holed, & Folded. Coin Talismans for protection against misfortune and witchcraft in Colonial Jamestown.

*Pictures and Endnotes are not included here. BUT, I did add a very cool picture for this posting; one that has never been seen before.

*The book will be available in early 2018.

Chapter 1. 
A lustrous shilling was valued for the bread and ale that it bought, but a bent penny was revered for the protection it offered. This may seem like an odd assertion. But these were the priorities in seventeenth-century England.

As much as I like to fantasize about traveling back to a time when soldiers wore plate armor and cabassets, I would not have wanted to live then. Life was precarious. Diseases, accidents, and violence were common. People rarely lived past forty, and those that did suffered daily from new and old wounds.

And yet, it was the devil that worried folks the most. Evil lurked in every corner. Witches lived next door. Even nightfall was considered a portent of hell, full of villains. No one – rich or poor – was safe.

This worldview left nothing to chance, as misfortunes were attributed to moral failings. Hence, the press to gain God’s favor while also defending against evil was relentless. Merely saying one’s prayers incorrectly – a word omitted or said out of place – put one at risk. Many folks adopted rituals such as “crossing thy self” as a protective gesture before stepping outside. A common retort in the face of adversity was to ask: “Have you crossed yourself today?”¹  

Here we have a deliberately bent Charles I

penny found in the plow zone.

Several pennies like this one have been

discovered at Jamestown and in early sites

along the James River.

The bending was likely talismanic.  

People armed themselves with protective talismans. Cubeb seeds and ginger were placed about the neck to ward off evil. Bible verses were scribbled on paper and held close at heart. Coins were fashioned for otherworldly use to curry divine favors. These were anxious times. If I were to climb into a time machine, I think an afternoon visit would be enough.

With all these hazards, we can agree that the daily concerns of people living back then were quite removed from our own. I worry about the caffeine in my morning coffee, but I don’t fret too much about witches. Heart disease is today’s evil. This contrast reminds me of the opening lines to L. P. Hartley’s novel, The Go-Between: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”² How true. We simply cannot squeeze our feet into their laced shoes.

Like many historians interested in the English colonies, I overlooked the impact of supernatural beliefs on their actions. Yet, we acknowledge that our spiritual ideas (or lack thereof) shape what we say and do. So it was in colonial times. Unfortunately, few colonists bothered or had the wherewithal to write down what they were thinking while sipping their ale.

But they left their relics.

I stumbled onto this subject after reading about several mutilated coins excavated at Jamestown, Virginia. The coins appeared to have been damaged on purpose. I was intrigued. And so, I set out to find out how these coins – bent, holed, and folded – were used. The archaeologists provided some cursory interpretations in their field notes, but I wanted to know more.

This book recounts my quest to understand how the colonists used these objects to stay safe and prosperous. But I give you fair warning: magic is not easy, as facts and folklore blend together like butter and margarine. You must tolerate ambiguity while embracing the incredulous. And, I hope you enjoy chasing tangents, as my journey meanders like a restless stream folding back on itself.

Along the way, I encountered battered coins that appear no more magical than a rusty nail. But looks can be deceiving. I also learned more about divine providence, dead saints, and witches that I anticipated. But mostly, I was impressed with the ingenuity of common folks who conjured up occult forces when needed.

More to come ... .