Here's a message I received from Laurie Wilkie, forwarded with her
permission.
 
Dan Mouer
 
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 10:52:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Laurie A. Wilkie" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: punched coins
 
Hi Dan,
 
Your posting to histarch regarding punched coins was forwarded to
me....you were looking for references?  I also found one of these coins
in Louisiana, and searched the ethnohistoric and oral historic record for
discussion of these....I have a 1995 (vol, 2) Southeastern Archaeology
article ("Magic and Empowerment on the Plantation"....) which summarizes
most of what I've found...just to summarize...
 
The term "evil eye" isn't common within the African-American
community....usually people refer to "being fixed"...coins are used
(in particular silver coins) to prevent being fixed or conjured, or to
notify the wearer when someone has attempted to conjure them...the silver
coin will turn black...similar tradition is found in the Bahamas in
identifying poisoned fish.  Dimes are the most commonly used coin for
preventing conjure...until 1965 they were the smallest U.S. coin
demonination that was made of silver....people in Louisiana still use
dimes today, just as you described, around the ankle.  Importantly, the
grinding of silver coins for medicines are also supposed to counter
conjure, and it seems to be the combination of the round shape and the
metal choice that is important.
 
Also commonly used were birth coins, a coin bearing the year of a
person's birth, the type of coin was not important...I have a british
copper cent from 1855 from my site...and nicely enough, the occupant of
the house, Silvia Freeman, had been born in 1855.  Again, the function of
the coin is generally protective and worn around the nect.....pennies are
also hung around the neck to aid in teething, which is traditionally
viewed in the south, by white and black populations alike, as a magically
dangerous time for children....given the weaning trauma found in enslaved
children's skeletal remains, this is not surprising.
 
Anyway, these are the sorts of things I've learned about the phenomenon.
Coins seem to be important symbols that are used on the body in a variety
of ways to different ends...I can't immediately remember hearing other
examples of women using coins to bond men to them (i've heard of buttons
from the man's underwear being used), but it seems logical.
 
I'd be very interested in hearing more about the sites where you have
recovered these objects and about any other magical items you may have
uncovered.
 
Best wishes,
 
 
Laurie A. Wilkie