Coins In The Doors Of Old Homes?

Hello. New member here...

I recently had a similar experience as the OP. I googled "coins under doors" and was lead here. I just recently purchased a home in NC and am in the process of a renovation. I was removing wood under the door threshold and something caught my eye. I thought it was a brass fitting or bearing from the door threshold or hardware. I swept back the dust and pulled out a coin. I was astonished to see that it was just not an old coin; but a gold coin.

After some research, it does seem that this was a unique superstition among builders. The idea was that those who cross the door threshold will be brought fortune. I read that this was more prevalent in the late 1800s/early 1900s. However, this home was built in 1950.

From research it appears that it is a 1851 G$1 MS. I see there are varying values of the aforementioned piece. Is there anything about this coin that makes it more rare than the others similar to it?

Regardless, for now I have wrapped the coil in plastic and put it back for now. I dont want to mess with the mojo of the house!

Just wanted to share and see if there is anything special about the coin at hand. It does appear to be a more "common" gold coin, however I am curious to see if there is anything I can look for on it that would maybe make it a more rare piece...


Thanks for any input!

Ship builders and sailors used to place coins under the masts of ships, supposedly for good luck. And who needs more luck than sailors sailing rickety wooden ships across the Atlantic Ocean.

They found a bunch of these old coins when they refurbished Old Ironsides years ago.

Rick

this is very interesting topic, over here coins embedded in concrete or under floors was made to promote good fortune and luck. Today they call it with a different name, "Feng Shui", and the use of coins in house construction is still the same, coins represent solid "worth" that lasts, compared to paper money.

way back 1950s when my father built his house, for the pillar or post in front of the house, three of the highest denomination circulated coins were wrapped up in thick carton paper and placed inside the cement at the base. in this case it was the 1peso coins. The ceremony done with family just like a picnic event, and this goes until the cement sets

he did it again in the 1970s and all of us siblings followed suit when our houses were built. it is often done but not talked about, it is a "given" and only the owner & family knows where it is.

has it been effective? is still an ongoing question.

new coins and new houses, they go together

I've been carpentering for almost 40 years and have never found an old coin in a house. And with what a carpenter makes I surely cannot afford to leave any behind!

Rick

Great stories. I was stripping the paint off the inside front door of a 1913 house and removed the doorknob plate. There was a 1938 penny inside. When I remounted the plate I added a 1998 (the year I was working on it). This was in Ft Collins, CO.

I think some of this stuff goes back a lot farther than you might think. Stashes of coins are often found buried near doorways at archaeological digs.

Nice find!

I own a construction company, and what I do is custom oak, maple, cherry, stairways. Over the past 30yrs, every time, before I attach the last thread. I put in a presently dated coin, the daily newspaper and a an informal plaque with my name and the date on it.

There will be a day when I am considered one of the most prolific stair craftsman in the northeast ...... lol

While remodeling an old NW PA house, I found:
A glass plate/picture of two people (assuming the original owners) in late 1800s garb;
a Damascus Barrel shotgun (low end of collectability - but great find nonetheless);
a rock with "Lake Erie Beach 1918" written on it (28 miles form the Lake at that time was quite a trip);
an old, flat, leather football;
a red glass vase with gold trim and hand painted flowers on it (but broken off at top :( ;
a 1960 paper with *surprisingly) an advert which pictured one of my Uncles (!);
a navy signaling flag;
an old "Battery Case" flashlight with batteries inside that were not rotted;
a pile of newspapers folded such that the front page were innermost and therefore were able to be read/dated;
some magazines dated 1914 that had the name of the person to whom they were mailed on them.

No coins :(

We left a Gideon Bible and some modern coins/currency (wrapped as airtight as we could) in the rebuilt wall.


A couple years later we were surprised to receive a letter in the mail from an 85 year old woman who had grown up in this house. We were able to return her old magazines to her although she had no recollection of the family ever putting anything in the walls and had no idea who was in the picture we found.