# Superstition: putting a coin behind a room's baseboard? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superstition-putting-a-coin-behind-a-rooms-baseboard/113243 "2002-06-10T13:22:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![femtosecond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superstition-putting-a-coin-behind-a-rooms-baseboard/113243/1 "2002-06-10T13:22:32Z")
We did some renovating after moving into an old farmhouse and found a small coin behind the baseboard of enough rooms to make us look for them and be disappointed if there wasn’t one. Apparently it’s some sort of superstition. Why did people do this? What will the evil spirits do to me now that we removed the coins? Will my stomach become bloated and my head be plucked of all but three hairs? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superstition-putting-a-coin-behind-a-rooms-baseboard/113243/2 "2002-06-10T13:31:09Z")
I’ve heard of people putting a coin under the first stone in a foundation (usually the coin is of the current year of issue when building commences). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superstition-putting-a-coin-behind-a-rooms-baseboard/113243/3 "2002-06-10T14:43:19Z")
I’ve always put a current year coin in any structure being built, like a barn or cabin. Don’t know about baseboards, or any internal carpentry project but I could easily see the tradition applying to other parts of the construction process. I don’t think of it as a superstition, more of a tradition. Besides, when you do repairs you can always be sure of when the original was built. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superstition-putting-a-coin-behind-a-rooms-baseboard/113243/4 "2002-06-10T16:52:15Z")
If you crack open the cornerstones of some buildings, you will find a singing and dancing frog that will perform hit tunes of the year of construction. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superstition-putting-a-coin-behind-a-rooms-baseboard/113243/5 "2002-06-10T17:02:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doghouse Reilly \* > \*\*If you crack open the cornerstones of some buildings, you will find a singing and dancing frog that will perform hit tunes of the year of construction. \*\* Sadly, when confronted with stage fright, the frog will not sing. I ran out of spacers while installing Pergo, and ended up using pennies. Maybe there was a construction type reason behind the coins. ---
**Author:** ![TelcontarStorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@TelcontarStorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TelcontarStorm)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superstition-putting-a-coin-behind-a-rooms-baseboard/113243/6 "2002-06-10T17:20:51Z")
My Mum says there’s an old Polish tradition of putting a coin on your window sill on New Years day. As long as the coin remains, you will never be broke. Perhaps this tradition is for simmilar purposes. I’d say put a few of the old coins back while remodeling, and add a few new ones, there by signifying to the next renovators the original building, and renovation dates. FWIW, you don’t ever, ever want to piss off the spirits of cash. Courting thier favor is a good thing! ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superstition-putting-a-coin-behind-a-rooms-baseboard/113243/7 "2002-06-10T18:51:46Z")
My Polish grandfather says it was his family tradition to run around the town on New Year’s Day and take coins off of window sills. Said you could pull in quite a mint. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superstition-putting-a-coin-behind-a-rooms-baseboard/113243/8 "2002-06-10T19:26:29Z")
I found many pennies behind molding, and other things, sooo many that I think the used them for shimming - kind of a pain in the @$$. ---
**Author:** ![femtosecond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superstition-putting-a-coin-behind-a-rooms-baseboard/113243/9 "2002-06-10T20:37:33Z")
Chuck Jones’ Michigan J. Frog. Gotta love him! 😃 Thank you for putting that in my head… _Some_ coins are more than a dating tradition: [http://www.mason.navy.mil/step.htm](http://www.mason.navy.mil/step.htm) > [@](#): > > The custom of placing coins under the step of the mast when a ship is being built had its origin with the ancient Romans. It was a custom then to place coins in the mouth of a dead person in the belief this would enable him to pay Charon to ferry him across the River Styx. The old superstition has survived and coins are still placed in the mast today so that if the ship met with mishap at sea, safe passage for the crew is ensured. Though I don’t believe this house will meet with mishap at sea. And, **Telemark** , doesn’t a tradition become a superstition when you don’t dare to stop it? Coins were placed at the entrance of graveyards to keep off the spirits. That made me think maybe mine were placed there to make the walls ghost-proof. It _could_ have been only the outer walls, I didn’t record their locations. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by TelcontarStorm_ > **I’d say put a few of the old coins back while remodeling, and add a few new ones, there by signifying to the next renovators the original building, and renovation dates.** Putting things that can oxidize in contact with the dampest part of the wall wasn’t the smartest thing to do. Two coins I could date at the 50’s, but what’s left of most of them is only a greenish lump of rust. I doubt they would have survived another decade. _If_ we’re going to re-install baseboards, I think I will carve a date on the back. But we did leave some newspapers under the new floor and wrote a date on the inside of the drywall we closed a door with. > [@](#): > > **FWIW, you don’t ever, ever want to piss off the spirits of cash. Courting thier favor is a good thing!** Send me some bucks and I’ll pray for your wealth, brother! 😃 … Okay, so most of the reason I am not replacing the coins is because I’m a cheap bastard. **Spritle** , I admire your grandfather. 🙂