A hole in a coin?

[DoubleCovaBrotha]

Hello, I know very little about coins, so I was hoping that some of you on here could impart some of your knowledge....

 

I came across two fairly old pennies today. I don't know what they are called, but one dates 1848 and the other dates 1853. They both have the profile of a female facing left with 13 stars around the head. Also they quite large, about the size of quarters. The one from 1848 has a hole on the top of the penny around the eighth star from the left. The hole is about the diameter of a thick paper clip. Can any please tell me...

 

What this hole does to the value of the coin? (It is pretty beat up, even without the hole).

 

And more importantly...why would someone do this to a coin? (I assumed to make a necklace at first, but as I said it out loud, it sounded kinda dumb.)

 

Thanks!

[gmarguli]

The value is cut by probably 80-90% assuming the coin is common. Rarer coins can hold their value very slightly more.

 

Holes are usually done for jewelry purposes. Sometimes the holed coins are used as washers.

[Leothelion]

Baby teething?

 

Leo

[michael]

greg sums it up really well consise and to the point

 

it was cheaper to make a washer or a part for something like machinery a gear or again a washer out of an old copper one cent coin than to go by a part as there where no handy hardware stores and if you speciality ordered something it would cost more than one cent so thousands of early coppers have these holes or serrations around the edges as for example a homemade gear homemade out of necessaty as a part or again washer for something copper was easy to cut and shape into i am sure hundreds of different items used to fix something in the middle/later 19th to early 20th century

 

indian cents you see this lots i got a whole can of these indian cents 1860's to 1880's

 

michael

[DoubleCovaBrotha]

greg sums it up really well consise and to the point

 

it was cheaper to make a washer or a part for something like machinery a gear or again a washer out of an old copper one cent coin than to go by a part as there where no handy hardware stores and if you speciality ordered something it would cost more than one cent so thousands of early coppers have these holes or serrations around the edges as for example a homemade gear

 

indian cents you see this lots i got a whole can of these indian cents 1860's to 1880's

 

michael

 

Thanks for all the replies...

 

I think this is probably a coin that was probably used for jewelry, as the hole is small and near the edge of the coin. For what sort of jewelry would coins be used? I can only think of pendants, necklaces, bracelets, and perhaps brooches. I assume that because there is a hole in this particular coin, it was used for some sort of necklace or bracelet?