The [W]Hole Consideration - "giving the holed coin its due"

by: Dr. Ron Brown   |   Sunday, August 22, 2021   |   0 Comments

The “Hole” Consideration

Giving the Holed Coin Some Respect

Silver

In My youth I was told a story by my dad about silver coins. He had a propensity of story embellishment, so I never knew to what extent I should put stock in the story line details. And then, there was an incident in mid-1980’s when I observed something while I was with the Maasai people in Tanzania East Africa that made me immediately recall my dad’s story from my youth. At that time until now, I have never forgotten the implications of what I was told and what I saw with the Maasai years later.

A young author with Maasai warrior at Ngorongoro Crater

It is said that the Maasai have many tribal remedies that are not shared outside their tribal community, being told that on occasion their secrets do escape, yet I never uncovered one. One of their remedies is said to be a mixture if three ingredients made up of plants and bark that treats the horrible parasitic disease malaria. As a side note, I know that the widely used medication quinine is not affective there against falciparum malaria, yet the Maasai seem better than most to avoid the disease.²¹ One Maasai that I worked with told me that they have other remedies but would not share details – a common result I learned. I’m curious as to how and where they acquired the knowledge I saw demonstrated, but observations and interactions tell me they hold a high IQ for medicinal remedies. And for those that think that the Maasai are uneducated, that would be a false assumption. The young man that I worked with was trained in a religious mission, spoke multiple languages and yet still honored his traditional customs and attire – so from afar; you could have a completely different assessment of him. 

The Maasai also like to adorn themselves with all manner of shiny metal bits and colorful beadwork and often among them are coins – old and new.

Photo: Pinterest. Web. Digital image. Tanzania.  11 Jan. 2019

The alloy was of little importance it seemed, as long as it was shimmering. Many an old coin was kept by them and I often would try buying those that caught my eye. No coin shops there – these were purchases directly from native people making their purchase all the more memorable. Those that were holed I passed on, but if holed, often they were already set aside for some planned ornamentation. A few of my many purchases are pictured here.  The ½ rupee from 1904 was 90% silver (.917) and the shillings from the 1937 to 1946 were 25% silver (.250).  Though many of the 2x2 are tilted Tanzania - where they were acquired, the coins were from a time when the country could have been controlled by Germany, Britain or independently as Tanganyika; today Tanzania.   

Authors coins -I acquired various date examples of most of these - buying the unholed ones

Historical Background

 Photo: Met, George F. Baker

Bust said to be of Herodotus

   2nd century A.D.

Silver metal was known to the Babylonians as early as 4,000 B.C.E., and it was the third metal known to be used by the Ancients, after gold and copper.¹ Herodotus, the Father of History, accounts that no Persian king would drink water that was not transported in silver vessels, which was known to keep the water fresh for years. This would be most important in war, where fresh water from natural sources might not be available.² The ancient Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and others also were recorded to have used silver in one form or another to preserve food and water. Hippocrates used silver preparations for the treatment of ulcers and to promote wound healing. The Phoenicians used to store water, wine, and vinegar in silver bottles to prevent spoiling. It is likely that silver nitrate also was used medically because it was mentioned in a pharmacopeia published in Rome in 69 B.C.E.¹, and the first clear record of silver nitrate being used as a medical agent was reported by Gabor in 702–705, and Avicenna used silver filings as a blood purifier in 980 A.D. In the middle ages, Silver may have saved the lives for those wealthy enough to own and use true silverware utensils. The daily use of these utensils caused absorption of silver and helped stave off disease maybe even the "Plague". The metal was used in many configurations, including vessels or containers for liquid, coins, shavings, foils, sutures, solutions, and colloids solutions first became available in 1924, which provided even smaller insoluble particles.⁴

The widespread use of silver went out of fashion with the development of modern antibiotics. In part, this is unfortunate as silver scientifically has therapeutic benefits over antibiotics that are just now being more fully understood. Silver compounds were used successfully to prevent combat infection in World War I (before antibiotics). Recently there has been renewed interest in silver as a broad spectrum antimicrobial. In particular, it is being used with alginate, a naturally occurring biopolymer derived from seaweed. Silver alginate is a product designed to prevent infections as part of wound management procedures, particularly applicable to burn victims, a product I have firsthand knowledge of.

As stated above in ancient times, it was known to prevent disease, and it was said that disease could not be transmitted in drinking from a silver cup. Silver coins were commonly dropped into a jar to prevent the spoilage of milk and other drink, and silver containers were used to prolong the freshness of foods in general.³ People of wealth would choose to feed their babies with a silver spoon, which was considered to be a benefit to healthy growth. Today, some commonly call all tableware "silverware" although it is more likely stainless steel. Silver was ground very fine like flour, suspended in water and the resulting solution was used orally for many infections and disease conditions, topically for burns, and for fungal infections. Until the 1970’s, it was common for scientists to put a silver dime in a Petri dish to sterilize the dish.¹⁷ After the development of the patented antibiotics, silver was essentially forgotten in the United States and most other places, even though antibiotics are only effective against bacteria - not viruses, yeast, or fungi. With the greatly improved modern silver suspensions, the tables are turning and silver may be the most effective treatment. Science Digest in March of 1978 suggested an answer to all of these catastrophic problems in an article titled "Our Mightiest Germ Fighter". This article by Jim Powell stated: "Thanks to eye-opening research, silver is emerging as a wonder of modern medicine. An antibiotic kills perhaps a half-dozen different disease organisms, but silver kills some 650. Resistant strains fail to develop. Furthermore, silver is virtually non-toxic if used correctly and in the right form." ^5,19

The prolonged overuse and consumption of silver products is known to cause a condition called Argyria (Gk., Argyrols, meaning silver),⁶ more likely from ionic silver making the skin a blueish color and from where it is said the wealthy of the 1800’s were call “Blue Bloods” – a term that is sometimes used even now. There are other competing ideas as to this terms origin as well, though to some degree all are likely applicable.  The inappropriate prolonged use of silver can have deep adverse medical completions and recalls the adage “a little goes a long way.” ⁷  As to little, it is also important that it is in the right form where atoms of silver are stable but ions of silver are not and can be toxic.

Photo: ISM / CID / Medical Images, WebMD - Skin Problems and Treatments

Food preservation side note:

In Western civilization, the first wooden ice box was actually patented as a "refrigerator." However, it didn't have any of the refrigeration technology that we see today. It was, by all accounts, an icebox. The patent for this original refrigerator was granted in 1802 to a farmer named Thomas Moore, a farmer, inventor, surveyor, engineer and entrepreneur from Brookeville, Maryland, signed by President Thomas Jefferson. It was said to have been lined with rabbit fur and of a hollowed wall construction that allowed for ice to be introduced. This interesting fact, that before the electric household refrigerator came along, “ice boxes” were called a refrigerator is surprising to most.⁹

When ice was not available, what was used? A cool cellars or possibly circulating cool water were some choices with options being very limited. However, an older maybe more effective intervention was also known and readily available.

This then brings me to my dad’s story and what I saw when among the Maasai in Tanzania, East Africa. I was a freshman in high school when I recall my dad telling me that his grandparents put silver coins in their milk to keep it from spoiling. I had never heard of that before and at the time was a bit dubious. He said they hung silver coins in the milk. He did not say how it was hung, or if the coin was holed, I only assumed so. He said that in the summer it was a technique that they used but would use an iceboxes in the winter.

Authors Holed 1818/7 US Half Dollar

Center holed –not crudely made

Then in 1986 I was working among the East African people called the Maasai, when I was invited to eat some roasted meat. Not wanting to offend, I agreed. They offered me a drink first of a milk and blood mixture (Osaroi)[sic], which I politely declined. I was then offered milk in its place and upon them pulling out a string from a hollowed out gourd (a traditional container) holding the milk, I noticed a sliver colored coin suspended from it that had been in the milk. I cannot say if it was truly silver or simply silver colored of another alloy. I had visited other Maasai kraals (engang) [sic] but never saw this elsewhere.  This milk also concerned me, knowing that burcellosis was prevalent among cattle in East Africa.⁸ But, having just been gifted a war club (Rungu)[sic] by whom I was told was the chief, I did not want to offend so I said I was not thirsty. Even now, as I recall that day, it is hard to believe they offered me - a small warm bottle of coke. At the time I did not know how precious this was to them but I must admit I had a hard time drinking it in the belief it was. It was however a good prelude to the roasted meat, with the coke being the better than very lightly seasoned open-flamed roasted meat that was the very definition of tough. The whole time my mind was on my dad’s story and for days after I wondered how they learned to put silver coins in the milk. I had one possible clue to a theory.

Swahili is primarily a Bantu language with a lot of borrowed words from other languages.⁴ There is an animal in East Africa called the Hyena. Its name in Swahili is Fisi – pounced feces – yes just as you think; and is the common named used throughout East Africa. It leaves behind scat (dropping) that to my knowledge are the only ones that always turn white in the hot dry sun, likely from the high content of bone they consume. When hunters from the east came to Africa and saw this white scat that was so conspicuous from all others, they used our English word feces when asking what it was from. The local knew it was the hyena and adopted the word feces (Fisi) thereafter to describe the Hyena.  Why this story. In theory I think it illustrates the eastern influence, with all the shared knowledge that was introduced by the traveling visitors and possibly brought the silver coin treatment to them as well. It could easily have been the practice of people like Stanley and Livingston in the mid-1800,s to use silver coins in their water supply etc., knowing that even from ancient times that it was said to keep water safe to drink. I have no proof of this, but I will hold this opinion until another more persuasive one comes along.

Copper:

The first recorded medical use of copper is found in the Smith Papyrus, one of the oldest books known. The Papyrus is an Egyptian medical text, written between 2600 and 2200 B.C., which records the use of copper to sterilize chest wounds and to sterilize drinking water.¹⁰ Other early reports of copper's medicinal uses are found in the Ebers Papyrus, written around 1500 B.C. In the Hippocratic Collection (named for, although not entirely written by, the Greek physician Hippocrates, 460 to 380 B.C.), copper is recommended for the treatment of leg ulcers associated with varicose veins. To prevent infection of fresh wounds, the Greeks sprinkled a dry powder composed of copper oxide and copper sulfate on the wound. Another antiseptic wound treatment at the time was a boiled mixture of honey and red copper oxide. The Greeks had easy access to copper since the metal was readily available on the island of Kypros (Cyprus) from which the Latin name for copper, cuprum, is derived. ¹¹

In Celsus' series, De Medicina, books one through six list many purposes for which copper was used together with the preparation and the form of copper most effective for each ailment. For the treatment of venereal disease, for example, Celsus prescribed a remedy consisting of pepper, myrrh, saffron, cooked antimony sulfide, and copper oxide.¹²

Turning to more modern times, the first observation of copper’s role in the immune system was published in 1867 when it was reported that, during the cholera epidemics in Paris of 1832, 1849 and 1852, copper workers were immune to the disease.¹⁵ In 1939, the German physician, Werner Hangarter, noticed that Finnish copper miners were unaffected by arthritis as long as they worked in the mining industry. This was particularly striking since rheumatism was a widespread disease in Finland.¹³ Copper is known to be an essential element in human metabolism. However, copper does not exist in the body in measurable amounts in ionic form.

¹⁴

Part of the demand for copper came from coinage, which had begun when Greco-Bactrian kings issued the first copper-containing coins around the third century BC. An early form of cupronickel, a copper-nickel alloy, was used in the first coins, but the earliest Roman coins were made of cast bronze bricks adorned with the image of an ox. It is believed that brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, was first developed around this time (circa the third century BC), while its first use in widely circulated coinage was in Rome's Dupondii, which were produced and circulated between 23 BC and 200 AD. It is not surprising that the Romans, given their extensive water systems and engineering ability, made frequent use of copper and bronze in plumbing related fittings, including tubing, valves, and pumps. The Romans also used copper and bronze in armor, helmets, swords, and spears, as well as decorative items, including brooches, musical instruments, ornaments, and art. While the production of weapons would later shift to iron, decorative and ceremonial items continued to be made from copper, bronze, and brass.¹⁶

Pioneers traveling across the continent generations ago faced many hardships, to include sufficient safe drinking water. Heat, dust and unsanitary conditions, such as a communal dipper, compounded the water purity problem. Using the discovery of ancient Greeks, the pioneers used silver and copper coins to keep the water potable. In oaken casks hanging on the sides of the wagons they placed silver and copper coins. As the wagons rolled over the prairies, the water would slosh and move in the casks. This action caused the coins to release ions which killed bacteria and algae.³ The silver coins discharged silver ions which killed bacteria, virus, and prevented future growth. The copper coins produced copper ions which killed and prevented the buildup of algae.

The Holes

I have observed that holed coins seem to fall into two categories. Those that have holes places in a well centered and balanced manner above the coins design elements and those that have holes that are placed without regard to the design elements and sometime are multiple in number. Further thought might be given to the holes themselves. Well centered cleanly made hole above the image on a coin or the date, might suggest some sort of commemorative use, like that memorializing of a significate date/s. Examples might be a birth, wedding or a holiday etc., where its hole location and style might suggest it was that more in keeping with use in ornamentations.  On the other hand, crudely made, irregular shaped holes that seem to be placed without regard to the design elements on the coin, or coins with multiple holes might suggest a more utilitarian use; i.e., a tool as we see with the suspending of coins in milk or water for its desired atom or ion production and said preservation effects. It should be noted, that coins simply placed in these liquids without a hole or suspending would also produce the desired effects. Nevertheless, greater surface area for interaction with the liquids with the coins is gained from suspending and would therefore likely be more effective. I think the coin date and number of coins holed for use in a utilitarian manner might have an inverse curve of frequency of occurrence relative to the introduction to modern cooling devices, such as refrigeration. A date comparison of holed coins might give a hit if this is so.

In reviewing catalogues and web sites for holed coins for sale, I note that fewer coins have this irregular off-centered type hole/s. Most seemed to have holes well centered with a smooth spherical edges. Initially, this suggests that the hypothesized utilitarian function was less employed.

Irregular shape hole – off center – crudely made

Photo/s courtesy of Jim Koenings Rare Coins, used with permission

Irregular shape hole – off center close-up

Examples of Holes seemly placed without regard to the design elements (US copper)

Photo/s courtesy of Jim Koenings Rare Coins, used with permission 

Looking closely at the inside boundaries of the hole might show wear - as if suspended from something. However, I think this would be the case with either suggested use and in my mind gives little further understanding.

There is an obvious aversion of the damaged coin in today’s numismatics. In fact, the coin certification services – labor intensely in pointing out the very minutest of damage to a coin, with holes being massive in comparison. This aversion likely lies at the feet of these services that propagate the negativity, whether they intend to or not. This in turn has had an overall negative influence on the acceptance and understanding within the collecting communities and thus the actual collecting of holed coins. I think it is a small, yet enlightened community of collectors, who can appreciate the holed coin as an historical and valued part of our numismatic history.

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