I have two sites that yielded pierced buttons or coins--both of them late
18th century pioneer stations in Kentucky. Daniel Boone's Station near
Lexington, Kentucky, yielded a very worn English large cent with an image
of King George II and a date of either 1741 or 1747. It has a crudely
drilled hole near its edge and is very similar in appearance to ones posted
by Carl Steen. This site was occupied from 1779 until approximately the
1840s. The other site is Hugh McGary's Station near Harrodsburg, Kentucky
that was occupied from 1779 to 1788 with little or no residential
occupation postdating McGary's stay there (just typical agricultural
activities). I recovered a button that had a large hole in its center where
the eyelet formerly was. The button is 1 inch in diameter and the hole is
3/8 by 1/4 inch in size so the hole constitutes about 9% of the area of the
button.

While these are interesting examples, I recovered two other artifacts from
McGary's Station that intrigue me. One is a large brass button with an
eyelet--probably late 18th century--that has been bent, not quite in half,
but enough that it looks like it was intentional. The other is a 1919
Lincoln penny that also is bent.
Any ideas concerning bent buttons and coins? It was suggested to me that
they might have been used for target practice by someone visiting the
site--I guess by tossing them up into the air and shooting at them which
seems a little far-fetched to me, but maybe possible. Any suggestions will
be appreciated.