Button made from a large cents?

[sproatz]

How often do you think people made buttons out of large cents? I think I found one with two holes in it but can't prove because the images are rubbed flat. But it is the same diameter as a large cent found right next to it.

 

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[Skippy SH13]

That looks pretty legit as a button, though the markings radiating inward around the edge are weird. Wonder if they were the points at which something was tied around the "button" like fabric? Other reasons folks "holed" cents were for jewelry mounts, and to sling around their necks (this happened a LOT... guaranteed they could get a drink, if they ever got stuck somewhere). Supposedly, during the Underground Railroad phase, the coins were used as identifiers, too (marked in special ways, maybe with two holes like you found?)

Skippy

 

[sproatz]

The pictures I took are of both sides. The lines are on both sides.

 

[sproatz]

Looks to be done by hand

 

[Skippy SH13]

The pictures I took are of both sides. The lines are on both sides.

Sounds like a wrap of some sort to me. Organic textiles have a PH level, too, and the substances in the wraps probably altered the corrosion rate, until they finally decayed away. That's just a total wild guess though.

Skippy