Why would someone hole a Capped Bust Half in the 19th Century?

Greetings Cointalk folks,

Over the years, I've been collecting Capped Bust Halves that have been holed. For no other reason that I like them. They are relatively inexpensive and I've always been curious as to why someone would hole a 50 cent piece.

I've heard that since there were no pockets at the time, they were often holed and sewn into shirts or coats. I've also heard that they were hung over doorways as good luck. I've also heard that maybe some were hung around the neck as jewelry but I tried that myself and it wasn't all that comfortable. I can see that for a 25C or maybe a dime.

I'm thinking that given the wear around the holes that the hole would have been contemporary with the coin. I have some with square holes so I'm guessing those might have been over thresholds or in barns.

Does anyone know any history behind the practice of holing coins?
Can you link any resources?
Does anyone else collect holed coins?

Thanks in advance for your time.

 

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@HoledandCreative might have something to add.

 

Waiting on an answer
This was given to me by my neighbor

 

Interesting question. I hope members here can enlighten us.

 

Almost looks like a 22cal bullet hole

 

They answer is quite simple.... " no self control"
Its a good answer that fits quite a few circumstances.

Why do boy's fight ? No self control
Why do girls gossip? No self control
So you see ....it's all about self control.... masters of their domain...
So if you got a drill.... feeling a little out of control....and need the feeling that you just drillled something...remember self control...go feed the squrrels...now talk about control....

 

To wear as jewelry is one reason.

 

The ones holed near the rim and in a specific location such that the coin would hang a certain way, one would think had to have been done for a necklace. They’re too big for a bracelet I’d think. The ones with square holes most likely nailed in a barn or above a door for luck.

 

Pretty sure mine was holed with a small knife

 

Thanks for the information. I'll work on getting pictures and post a couple of them later tonight. I need to look up the Overton attributions for these at some point.

Full confession, I must admit that I'm guilty of holing a coin myself (with a power drill). I like Abe Lincoln so when the silver dollar commem was released in 2009, I picked up a couple of the uncirculated version. I drilled a hole in one and made it into a key fob. It's been with my keys for the last 13 years.

 

When I first got into coins back in 2006, one of the first things I did was to get a copy of the RedBook and read it from cover to cover. Then I picked up a 7070 album and started learning about the different coins as I started to fill the holes.

At one point, I was thinking about putting together a 7070 with just holed coins but I ran into a problem finding authentic holed versions of some coins. Not wanting to make a hole in a coin just to fill a hole (felt like cheating), I abandoned that idea but not before picking up some of the small gold coins (with holes) to begin the gold page.

 

My holed type set that I've been working on for a few years.

 

Awesome album there. Those are some beauties.

Where did you find the Kennedy half? Looks like it was a bracelet or necklace at one time. I've seen some love token drilled like that.

I love those buffalo nickels. I really need to work on a set of those. I love that design.

 

Disappointing but I'm not able to post and holed busts tonight. I'm not sure where the album is. What I thought was the busts turned out to be two Thalers, a Italian Scudo and a Silver cob 4 Reales from Seville. Darn. Where the heck are the busts?

 

The Kennedy half was a gift from a fellow collector. A lot of people want nothing to do with holed coins, I like them.

 

Lots of interesting posts but no images of a holed Capped Bust half?
My only half dollar remotely relevant was made into a watch fob, a perhaps equally interesting practice back then.

 

I've actualy got a holed coin the the $20 LC set...
1823

 

I collected 1876 holed coins at one time.
It was fun and a challenge.

 

how about a Draped Bust Dollar ?


I always thought the hole was to let the worm get to the other side ?

lol
just done for jewelry, just as people drill holes into coins today for jewelry.