Numismatic Superstition

Bent coins convey various meanings throughout history, with one idea being that ruining a coin symbolizes a sacrifice intended to win favor with fate. Sydney Noe wrote in The Pine Tree Coinage of Massachusetts (1952) Superstition seems to run in inverse proportion to valuation, and it's a safe bet that no one today is deliberately bending Massachusetts silver coins. Illustrated here is such a piece from the ANS collection, donated in 1946, and likely one that Noe had in mind when writing the 1952 volume on Massachusetts silver.

Image: bent Pine Tree Shilling from the American Numismatic Society collection, 1946.89.51, digitization sponsored by Syd Martin and Roger Siboni

Link to The Pine Tree Coinage of Massachusetts on Newman Portal:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/512405

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
QUERY: EARLIEST USE OF TERM 'WITCH PIECE' SOUGHT(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n12a18.html)
NEW BOOK: BENT, HOLED, & FOLDED(https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n41a03.html)