Why is this coin defaced??

[Ripcon]

I picked up this holed 1818 Large Cent some 38 years ago in Vicksburg in a "what not" box at a flea market for $1.00.
It looks to have been defaced years ago when the coin was in circulation. I picked it up anyway because..heck...it was only $1.
Here's my question:
I know it has a severe blemish on the face of the matron on the coin but it seems to me I read somewhere that marks like that were purposely made on Large Cents for a specific reason. If that is true, can anyone on this forum tell me why? Thanks for any help you can give.

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

I imagine it is because it was cheaper for someone to make a tag for "O" locker or room key, or a tag for a marker board, out of a cent than to pay someone to make a rust-resistant stamped tag from something else.

 

[Noah_D]

Here is a wikipedia article on countermarked coins... coins that have markings punched onto them while in circulation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countermark

Gotta love those bowls and boxes of coins. There is this one guy that I was going to buy a few out of his box of 2 or 3 for a dollar coins (mostly foreign but some old US too) and he said "give me a dollar" ummm ok... So I did. He told me to hold out my hands, both of them and just grabbed a huge handful and put them in my hand. I looked through them later and there was a bunch of modern foreign change, mostly 60s-90s but there were a few polished indians and buffalos and some uncleaned coins that were older and not obviously cleaned. Some wheaties, old european change, and this coin from uruguay which I almost passed off as worthless modern change but decided to look it up as it was in pretty good condition and from the 40s. Turns out I got seeelver!!! I've gotten so many good deals from those what-not bowls at antique stores and things... can't beat a victorian canada cent for a quarter either.

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

Yeah, counter-stamped, but the hole at edge, was made for the coin to hang around the neck....a Special Find, there guy...!

 

[Ripcon]

Yes...Counter stamped or Counter punched....That's it exactly.
Thanks!

 

[trdking]

No-one knows why this coin or any odd counter stamped coins were made. Assayers stamps are a different story. This coin has a story but the only one who knows the meaning is probably not here to tell us. I know of a couple guys who made identical coins to hang around their necks. The pact was, whomever dies first the other was to recover the coin and use them both to buy a pitcher of beer. Silly things like this create these oddly marked coins. BTW, my Dad won. He got the coin but did not use them for a pitcher.

 

[Ripcon]

No-one knows why this coin or any odd counter stamped coins were made. Assayers stamps are a different story. This coin has a story but the only one who knows the meaning is probably not here to tell us. I know of a couple guys who made identical coins to hang around their necks. The pact was, whomever dies first the other was to recover the coin and use them both to buy a pitcher of beer. Silly things like this create these oddly marked coins. BTW, my Dad won. He got the coin but did not use them for a pitcher.

Great info. Thanks so much!

 

[nkellam22]

The hole was most likely created so the coin could be used as jewellery or to tie onto a string so they would not lose the coin.
People stamped coins for many different reasons. Most commonly it was for advertisement. It could be an emblem of a company or store.

 

[creskol]

I think a med student was practicing his lobotomy techniques.

In all seriousness, that is a very cool 1818 coin! Great find!

 

[DCMatt]

Personalized coins may have been a 'thing' back in the day. We see "Love Tokens" on here fairly often.

I have a silver dollar my dad carried in his pocket for years. It is not inscribed but is from his birth year and worn almost slick.

We ID'd an inscribed 1827 large cent on this forum about 10 years ago.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/127095-large-cent-name-inscribed-i-found-out-who-owner.html

It turned out to have a very interesting story.

Yours may have the initial of the owner.

 

[tamrock]

I was told a long time ago that holed coins were used to commemorate and nailed to a barn or farm house on the year it was completed or the year of a child's birth. A Golden Spike of sort. I have a couple old holed large cents on my house and I found them in a tin box along with some other knick knacks at my grandpa's house in an old closet many moons ago. Yours looks like it may have been swinging on a hook or nail for a while in its lifetime.

 

[tamrock]

Personalized coins may have been a 'thing' back in the day. We see "Love Tokens" on here fairly often.

I have a silver dollar my dad carried in his pocket for years. It is not inscribed but is from his birth year and worn almost slick.

We ID'd an inscribed 1827 large cent on this forum about 10 years ago.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/127095-large-cent-name-inscribed-i-found-out-who-owner.html

It turned out to have a very interesting story.

Yours may have the initial of the owner.

Wow first posted in 2009. I wasn't hanging around here then. Great little adventurer that one looked to be. That's what's fun about this site and some of the discoveries that also uncover interesting stories to boot. It sure ain't like milking that crap out of nothing you see on these tv treasure hunting adventures, though some do point out the interesting history behind the myths. Thanks for bringing that one to our attention DCM

 

[bradyboy]

how did they drill the hole?
both sides of the hole show the coin was drilled at slow speed, drill made the metal heat and pool around the edge of the hole
maybe im over thinking this?
the hole is not stamped,
imo
brady

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Personalized coins may have been a 'thing' back in the day. We see "Love Tokens" on here fairly often.

I have a silver dollar my dad carried in his pocket for years. It is not inscribed but is from his birth year and worn almost slick.

We ID'd an inscribed 1827 large cent on this forum about 10 years ago.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/127095-large-cent-name-inscribed-i-found-out-who-owner.html

It turned out to have a very interesting story.

Yours may have the initial of the owner.

Thats a cool old post. The link to the book written by his son no longer works.
I sure would like to read that.

 

[HI-McDunnogh]

Coin

I can't help with the marking, but here is my 1820 Coronet Liberty Head that I dug with a hole in it. As some have mentioned it could have been used for jewelry, but while researching other possible purposes for the hole I found that some would stitch a thread/string into their pocket, and knot the string through the coin so it wouldn't fall out and be lost (like this one must have been).

 

[DCMatt]

Thats a cool old post. The link to the book written by his son no longer works.
I sure would like to read that.

The book is:

[h=1]The Print of My Remembrance by Augustus Thomas[/h]

It is available to read for free on Google books. Skip to page 13 for the big news about the coin owner.

The son became a rather famous playwright.