Why do so many large cents have holes? Like this one.

Whatafind · July 1, 2007 3:07AM

Large cent i know little about , so why are so many holed. Item number: 170125181657
Sorry still can'nt link to work

LickThoseStamps · July 1, 2007 3:09AM

<< <i>Large cent i know little about , so why are so many holed. Large >>

Wow! I think you have discovered the missing link!

Musky1011 · July 1, 2007 3:11AM

they were nailed to new buildings for good luck

or

to the center mast of a sailing ship

Jim

Whatafind · July 1, 2007 3:21AM

Is that true ?

flydoc · July 1, 2007 3:29AM

Another try on the link. I also heard that people wore them tied to a string around their wrists for various ailments.
linky

MrHalfDime · July 1, 2007 3:30AM

I am no expert on the Large Cents, and would defer to the experts in that field, but I have read several accounts of Large Cents being used for purposes other than as money. They were plentiful, they were inexpensive (merely one cent apiece), and they could be fashioned into washers, gears, and many other parts to keep things running. One account from here in my home state of Maine, home to the nation's shipbuilders for 400 years, states that when the planking was being secured to the hull of a wooden sailing ship, even with ship-lapped joinery, it became necessary to nail them through a washer so that the nail heads would not pull through the plank as the wood shrank and expanded. Old, well circulated Large Cents served the purpose well, and were accumulated by the keg for that purpose by the various shipbuilders. Sounds plausible.

This explanation would almost certainly not account for the 1849 Large Cent linked from eBay. That hole is near the rim, and was likely worn as jewelry or a charm. The Large Cents used in shipbuilding would have a large, rather crude hole in the center.

mozeppa · July 1, 2007 3:31AM

maybe to put on a neck chain....so not to lose it.
your link

EagleEye · July 1, 2007 3:46AM

Large Cents were not legal tender. They were exchanged for CN cents starting in 1857. After the Civil War, Large Cents could not be spent, so they were made into things or thrown into a drawer or melted for copper. After 1965 they became legal tender, but by then who would care?

Boom · July 1, 2007 3:54AM

Great answer, Rick!

coinandcurrency242 · July 1, 2007 4:02AM

If I am correct, they were used as jewlery back in those days.

EagleEye · July 1, 2007 4:11AM

If I am correct, they were used as jewlery back in those days.

A Large Cent for Jewlery? Yech! what kind of person would wear something as cheap (in the day) and ugly (coronets, at least) as a large cent as jewlery?

The coin with the hole at 12:00 was probably a drawer knob.

Writersblock · July 2, 2007 2:39AM

<< <i>Yech! what kind of person would wear something as cheep (in the day) and ugly (coronets, at least) as a large cent as jewelry? >>

Think folklore medicine of wearing copper as a cure for arthritis. Sometimes they would wear a copper bracelet, other times a copper medallion. And what would be a better, cheap copper medallion than a holed large cent.

StampAlarm · July 2, 2007 2:49AM

<< <i>If I am correct, they were used as jewlery back in those days.

A Large Cent for Jewlery? Yech! what kind of person would wear something as cheep (in the day) and ugly (coronets, at least) as a large cent as jewlery?

The coin with the hole at 12:00 was probably a drawer knob. >>

Maybe a man that has very little money if any wanted to give his girlfirend at least something.

Jerry

halfhunter2 · July 2, 2007 3:37AM

Not sure if this is an urban legend, but I remember hearing that civil war soldiers used to sew them into their uniforms to serve as a form of a flac jacket. It sounds like a plausible idea, so I never really questioned it. Has anybody else heard this?

Dabigkahuna · July 2, 2007 3:50AM

I have also read where people used to punch holes in them and keep them on large key-rings, just like keys. The would attach the ring to their belt. This goes back to the time when pockets were not a common thing to have.

Larry
Dabigkahuna

Cladiator · July 2, 2007 4:01AM

You'll find a great many of these holed for a great many reasons. Of note, the ones that have square holes we're typically holed before those with round holes. The square nail pre-dates the cylindrical nail.

cmerlo1 · July 2, 2007 4:05AM

I have heard that the 'bedpost' or 'sailing mast' large cents have a square or rectangular hole, because cut nails were usually used to nail them up...

--Christian

WaterSport · July 2, 2007 4:11AM

Yopu are all wrong....They are the earliest form of a Bling - Bling in our American Culture!

WS

1775 · July 2, 2007 6:46AM

Many were used to hold slate on roofs 1860's-70's- copper washers were 2 cents each

fastrudy · July 2, 2007 6:49AM

Lord Marcovan's hat

lathmach · July 2, 2007 10:01AM

When I started collecting 50 years ago, I can remember old timers saying that large cents with holes were used for teething babies. A string was put through the cent and around the babies neck.
The large cents with the "gear teeth" on them, with a hole in the center, were used with a wire handle or wire and wood handle as home made pie crimpers. Once in a while an original one will show up
on Ebay.

Ray

Edscoin · July 2, 2007 10:28AM

I have heard people put strings through the holes and wore them around their neck so they would not fall thru the holes in their pockets.

EagleEye · July 2, 2007 2:48PM

CalGold · July 2, 2007 2:50PM

Rick, are those leather working tools or instruments of torture?

CG

EagleEye · July 2, 2007 2:58PM

Antique pie crimpers. I don't know if any of those shown are made from large cents, but any that are would be similar.

pb2y · July 2, 2007 6:25PM

They were also used as washers in farm machinery.

jhusman · July 2, 2007 9:12PM

Does anyone have any photos of "recovered" large cents? It would be neat to see some gears, pie crimpers, washers, etc.

cmerlo1 · July 2, 2007 11:15PM

I recall seeing a photo of a large cent pie crimper (unfortunately it was a chain cent!)...I think it was in The Numismatist a while back...

--Christian

Why do so many large cents have holes? Like this one.

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