Holed and Plugged Coins

Mint-made holes in coins (which is generally not a thing with regular US issues), do not affect the value. Many World coins (and a tiny few rare US patterns that were never issued for circulation) were made with holes in them, usually in the center. That’s a whole different thing.

We are merely discussing post-mint, “aftermarket” holes here. Holes that were put in the coin after they left the mint. That is PMD (post-mint damage), and damage always negatively affects the value of a coin.

 

Here is one of those rare Judd patterns on eBay. Note the asking price ($8,244.50, if any of you are reading this after that listing is gone). These are among the very few US coins that were issued by the mint with holes in them. But they were never put into production or circulation.

No regular issue US coin with a hole in it was ever made for circulation. These patterns were merely proposed designs that were never adopted, and generally speaking, US pattern coins are rare, with only a handful of each type in existence. You're unlikely to acquire a US pattern coin for less than a four-figure pricetag.

But again, this is a mint-made hole here. So it's part of the design, not damage.

 

I figured. But at a cursory glance, that replica really jumped out at me at first! LOL