Small silver holed coins used as slave charms against witchcraft and conjuring

WillieBoyd2

There was an article in the news recently about a Williamsburg garden that was uncovered by archaeologists.

From CBS News:
Archaeologists unearth garden in Virginia owned by Martha Washington's first father-in-law
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/archaeologists-colonial-garden-williamsburg-clues-slavery

Archaeologists in Virginia are uncovering one of colonial America's most lavish displays of opulence: An ornamental garden where a wealthy politician and enslaved gardeners grew exotic plants from around the world.

The garden in Williamsburg belonged to John Custis IV, a tobacco plantation owner who served in Virginia's colonial legislature. He is perhaps best known as the first father-in-law of Martha Washington. She married future U.S. President George Washington after Custis' son Daniel died.

The dig also unearthed a pierced coin that was typically worn as a good-luck charm by young African Americans.

The news article does not identify the coin.

There are many references to small silver coins used for this purpose including:
https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n20a15.html
https://www.sciway.net/hist/chicora/slavery18.html
https://nmscarcheologylab.wordpress.com/2021/09/17/tale-of-a-taler-a-pierced-coin-from-the-jacob-jackson-home-site

In the 1930's the Works Progress Administration (WPA) sent people to interview former slaves.

"Every one of my children wears a silver dime on a string around their leg to keep off the witches spell", said Gertrude Vogler of Kentucky.
"Others wore a silver coin in their shoes and some made holes in the coin, threaded a string through it, attached it to the ankle so that no one could conjure them" said Willis Williams of Florida

I started collecting coins in the mid 1960's and became interested in foreign (non United States) coins almost immediately.

I would drive to coin dealers and weekend coin shows and go through dealer "junk boxes" looking for coins.

I always carried a copy of the book "A Catalog of Modern World Coins" by R. S. Yeoman, published in 1964, to keep track of the collection.

Once in 1965 I purchased a small worn holed silver coin, probably for a few cents, which I still have.

Years later I looked the coin up on the Internet and was able to identify it.

It was a one real coin issued by the Chile Republic in 1846. This type of coin was minted from 1843 to 1851 and, as the last number '6' of the date appears, the date is 1846.

Chile Republic one real 1846
Silver, 2.46 gm, 19.0 mm, Santiago Mint

The Numista website has a better illustration and information on these coins:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces35258.html

The recent Williamsburg article reminded me of this coin but I have no knowledge of its history prior to 1965.

But I wonder if it could have made its way to the American South and joined the other Spanish-American coins circulating there.

The coin reverse design has an Andean Condor with a broken chain on its foot, an emblem of freedom from Spanish rule.

The broken chain might have appealed to a slave or freed slave.

Shurke

Very interesting stuff. And I like your Chilean real.

SaorAlba

It could have evolved from an earlier superstition in Britain of "Touching for the King's Evil" which was supposed to ward off spells, diseases etc where a person was touched by the King, in this case James VIII of Scotland and presented a "touch piece" which was a holed medallet worn by the recipient. The pretender Kings of Scotland continued this tradition into the early 18th century when this medallet was struck.

AUandAG

Trousers did not have pockets back then. Many holed coins were sewn to the clothing via the hole for safe keeping. Nothing to do with wiches or such.
Men did not carry purses and many women also did not. Thus having coins sewed inside your shirt, jacket or pants was not uncommon. Many were lost due to the thread breaking while working. Just my take.
bob

Typekat

In the early 1980s in downtown Atlanta, we sometimes were asked for a ‘case’ silver dime.
It was a worn nearly smooth Mercury dime that the customer wanted, to tape to (usually) her leg to treat arthritis.

JBK

@Typekat said:
In the early 1980s in downtown Atlanta, we sometimes were asked for a ‘case’ silver dime.
It was a worn nearly smooth Mercury dime that the customer wanted, to tape to (usually) her leg to treat arthritis.

That reminded me of a friend I had years ago - she was from the south and sometimes used the term "case quarter". I looked up the definition:

case quarter
A single 25-cent coin, as opposed to any combination of coins adding up to 25 cents.

She never explained it that way but that's how she used it, such as when looking for a quarter for a parking meter.

Typekat

@JBK

Thanks!
40 years on, and I had no idea what ‘case’ meant.

CRHer700

I love holed silver coins because they often sell for quite a bit less than non-holed subjects of a similar grade, rightfully so, but when your budget is small, they are often nice substitutes for straight grade surfaced coins.

oldabeintx

Putting together foreign types that circulated here is a lot of fun. These holed coins make an interesting subset. I’ve put together types found in Williamsburg and Jamestown, requires some research. Lots to pick from as many foreign coins were legal tender until 1857 (see Coinage Act of 1793 and renewals), and that’s virtually all we had coin-wise in colonial times.