I saw some old threads about people scratching initials on coins and thought I would show two of my coins with "custom embellishments". The 1858 half dollar has initials scratched on it and the 1921 dollar has Roman numerals on it. Maybe the Roman numerals were a birth date or anniversary date of 2/15/47?
February 15, 1947 is the 46th day of the year in 1947, it would have been a Saturday. Someone born on this day will be 65 years old today and if they saved a penny everyday from the age of five they would have $221.85.
If you did that off the top of your head then I would like to take you to vegas and I'll fund you at the blackjack table.
There's actually a name for these pieces jlj...grafitti coins. Coins with initials, dates, political messages, or any number of other things scratched on them with some type of sharp object is a grafitti coin. Counterstamps on the other hand are applied with a metal punch or series of punches. As you might guess from my avatar, I'm an avid collector of counterstamped coins. Although I don't collect grafitti coins per se, I have half a dozen pieces or so among my Irish political counterstamp collection. All have a political message crudely applied with a knife or other sharp instrument. Interesting in a historical sense, but not really collectable. Thanks for showing yours. Bruce
Here's an example of a political message on both a grafitti coin and a counterstamped one. Both date to the Troubles era in Northern Ireland (1969-1998). The cuts across the Queen's neck on the Penny is an obvious political statement while the "16" scratched on the reverse refers to the Irish Nationalist uprising against the crown in 1916. This is generally referred to as "The Easter Rising". The counterstamped coin is a Loyalist issue. The initials "STB/CC" refer to Company C of the Loyalist UDA/UFF paramilitary group from the lower Shankhill in Belfast. Their slogan was "Simply The Best" or STB. Bruce
