COINS AND HEALTH: AMULETS

AT RIGHT: Science Museum Group. Coin amulet to protect against smallpox. A665893 Science Museum Group Collection Online. Accessed June 19, 2020. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/
objects/co103143/coin-amulet-to-protect-against-smallpox-coin .

It is sometime since we were able to visit coin dealers and rummage through their stock. Imagine you are at your favourite coin dealer looking through their trays of coins for sale. I expect you do dream of touching the real thing –I mean the coins not the dealer! You see an interesting coin which you recognise as fairly rare and not in bad condition, then you notice some idiot has put a hole through it. Despite the low price because of the hole you pass and go for something better. Stop for a moment and wonder why it has a hole. Perhaps it was an amulet to guard the wearer against illness. The coin which is illustrated a worn, saucer-shaped Byzantine coin used as an amulet against smallpox. The practice of carrying amulets good health through protection against disease has an extremely long history. Many Byzantine coins had religious images which people thought would bring good health. Some people thought that the green colour copper goes was especially healthy.

The following are medallions especially manufactured not converted coins.

AT RIGHT: Science Museum Group. Amulet of Saint Roch to protect against cholera. A677223 Science Museum Group Collection Online. Accessed June 19, 2020. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/
objects/co68714/amulet-of-saint-roch-to-protect-against-cholera-amulet.

This is medallion involving the protection of St. Roch against cholera, France, 1820-1880. It would have been hung on a thread or a chain and worn around the neck, The reverse shows St Roch (1295-1327), who was believed to cure sufferers of the plague and later other diseases, such as cholera. There are also examples of medallions designed to be worn from Russia where Cholera caused the deaths of millions of lives in the last and Nineteenth centuries.

I realise I am now encouraging dealers to increase prices for coins that have been holed as they have a historical interest! I do not see anyone producing a medallion to guard against coronavirus. We live in an increasingly cashless society so perhaps coins will go out of use completely and only carried as mementos! Coins still bear religious motifs so possibly they may become amulets?

Follow the links to read David's earlier articles:
KING GEORGE'S RECOVERY (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n24a30.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web