Numism > Help For the New Ancient Coin Collector

Why were coins holed?

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Sosius:
Hello all,

This may be a painfully obvious question, but does anybody know why coins were holed in antiquity?  I have read two theories: 1) that they were holed so they could be kept on a string; and 2) that they were nailed to doorways for good luck.

Any truth to these theories?  Any others?

Cliff

areich:
One more obvious answer, so they could be worn as medallions.
There are quite a few coins where the hole was placed so carefully that this seems the most likely explanation.

Lloyd Taylor:
For the following coin I consider another speculative reason as a reasonable possibility– a display of loyalty during a power struggle:

Bactria, Agathokles I, ca. 175-165 BC, AR Pedigree Tetradrachm
Obv:  EYΘYΔHMOY ΘEOY Diademed head of Euthydemos right.
Rev:  ΒΑΣΙΛΕYONTOΣ AΓAΘOKΛEOYΣ ΔIKAIOY Herakles seated on rock, holding club set on rocks; ΦΩΛ monogram lower right field.
Ref:   Bopearachchi 16B; SNG ANS 261, Mitchiner 145. (31mm, 16.67g, 12h)
 
Agathokles and Antimachos issued “pedigree” tetradrachms in the later years of the struggle for regency with Eukratides. Such coins sought to assert the legitimacy of the incumbent Euthydemid rulers through association with forbears and even unrelated predecessors back to Alexander.
 
An iron pin, passing through a carefully placed iron plate on the obverse, pierces this coin. Remnants of both remain lodged in the fabric of the coin. The iron pin appears to be the remains of an attachment placed in a manner to avoid defacing the image of Euthydemos. The careful attachment of this coin for its use as an item of display may have been an overt statement of loyalty to the Euthydemid line. The coin shows similar wear patterns of nicks and abrasion on both sides, suggesting that both sides were equally subject to wear and tear. The iron attachment plate on the obverse has been turned up along one edge, apparently in antiquity, as if in an attempted removal. Severed from its mounting it may have been retained as a souvenir of war, subsequently to become part of a hoard in the troubled time associated with and following the ascent of Eukratides the Great.

moonmoth:
My holed coins page and galleries have lots of examples, including some more possible reasons for piercing coins.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/holed_coins.html

Including an obol of Hadrian with the remains of two bronze nails still embedded:



and a siliqua of Valens with a hook attached with a rivet through the coin, for a rather more temporary display of loyalty:



Bill

Ardatirion:
Or as a charm of some sort?



Thasos, Thrace
AR stater
510-490 BC
Nude ithyphallic satyr carrying protesting nymph r.
quadripartite incuse square

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