Someone mentioned this half cent was holed with a square nail. I took it to a show and the guy who looked at it said he couldn't see it. I see the bottom of the hole is rounded but when I was looking closer at the original E bay picture I could see it, the nail was on an angle creating a diamond shape hole. Do you see it? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-7-Type-Coin-Lot-Seated-Half-Dime-and-More-No-Reserve-Free-Shipping-/190736522562?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&nma=true&si=m2%2F%2BsGS0Fu9JQ8EZmsV5nCGcmmQ%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
There is a nail that is square at the end that i hope i name it right a cut nail They are funny shaped and i have a bag of them i found while exploreing an old packhouse. Ive seen them used by a man who shoed our mule on the farm. Also that shape is found on the handel end of a mill bastered normaly called a file. I think your coin was holed by a common nail first and later made bigger by the file end or a cut nail. I did this once when i was young to a 49 cent to wear around my neck because it was my birth year. I later found a better chain and had to open the hole so it would be big enough for the coin. I used my dads file to do it .
Ok, so you are saying it was made by a square nail but made bigger. That would make sense since I can see a square shape within the hole.
There was a time when all nails were square. Round nails are a fairly modern invention. It was also a common practice to nail a coin up over a door for good luck, or for a merchant to nail the first cent he made to the wall in his store. Or for kids just playing around to see if they could drive a nail through a coin. And some people used to hole their coins so they could sew them onto their clothing. There are a hundred possible reasons as to how or why the hole got there.
I used to have a bunch of square nails I got from house built in the 20's or 30's when they were tearing it down. I think this might have been a square hole to start with the worn down to look round.
Doug should explain why he did that damage to that poor half cent way back in the days... ...hate to see what he was doing to $3 gold pieces
Yes, the nerve of people maybe 200 years ago ruining a coin worth a half of a cent. Didn't they know I would want it a couple centuries later?
