1691 coin mysteriously found at Underground Railroad site. Was it a good luck charm?

Pierced coins were worn for centuries “to ward off witches and evil spirits,” so the discovery of one such coin at a stop along the historic Underground Railroad has historians asking a lot of questions.

Turns out this coin is a bit unusual. It’s a silver 1691 German taler “issued upon the death of” Saxony-Electorate Johann Georg III, according to the Northeast Museum Services Center in Boston.

The coin was found at the Maryland farm of Jacob Jackson, “a free black man and an Underground Railroad operative who helped Harriet Tubman free her brothers on Christmas Eve, 1854,” the National Park Service says.

Jackson’s farm — which has no surviving structures — is a 480-acre parcel of land administered by the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Church Creek, Maryland, the park service says.

“German coins on an American site are a cool find! The hole in this one makes it even more interesting. The perforation along the edge of this coin suggests that it was modified to be worn as a pendant,” the center wrote in a blog posted Sept. 17.

“According to folklore studies, pierced coins were worn to ward off evil spirits, protect against disease, and bring good luck. ... (Archaeologists) have recovered several pierced coins from contexts directly associated with enslaved African Americans.”

So were those escaping wearing such coins as “protective talismans” as they fled slavery? And did one among them drop their lucky coin at the Jacob Jackson farm?

“Alas, without any further evidence, it’s impossible to know who modified or wore the coin,” the center says.

“It could have been worn by a European colonist and deposited there before Jackson’s time. It could have been lost by a colonist then found and worn many years later by an African American slave or a free Black person (like Jackson) living and working in the area. We wish we knew how this coin ended up on the Jackson Home Site, but that remains a mystery.”

Archaeologist have been studying the coin in recent weeks and they say one thing is clear: Whoever added the hole considered it “more than a coin.”

“The process of piercing this taler imbued it with new meaning and importance. It could be strictly an object of adornment, selected and displayed because of its aesthetic qualities,” the center says. “Research suggests, however, that there is probably more to the story. It’s likely that this coin was worn as a protective charm, intended to keep evil at bay or bring good fortune.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2021 at 12:32 PM with the headline "1691 coin mysteriously found at Underground Railroad site. Was it a good luck charm?."