This practice of placing a so called “mast-step coin” at the base of a ship’s mast was even prevalent well into the 20th century, with Turkish ship builders continuing the tradition as late as the mid 1980’s. The concept, originally thought to be only nautical in nature, developed as a religious practice and was done as a sacrifice to the gods thereby ensuring the safe passage of the boat on its future voyages.
Archeologists can now confirm the practice to be much wider spread than just ships, with coins being found under mosaic pavements, inside doors, and at the base of structural pillars. Some of these finds date back to the 3rd century BC, proving that the Romans had been hedging their building bets for quite some time.
