Did the cutting occur during ancient times? What was the reason for cutting? How did they do it? I imagine it was with a short sharp sword.
The cutting was to make the coin into a smaller denomination. I read an article many years ago in The Celator that the coins were wrapped in leather, put halfway in a vice and whacked sideways with a hammer to break them in half.
I know they were cut to make change but how did the author know it was wrapped in leather, put in a vice and hammered? Is that article available online? I'd be curious to read it.
It's obvious that most such coins in antiquity were broken in half, not cut, because the edges aren't straight. The rest is pure conjecture, based upon an experiment. The author tried various ways to reproduce the effect with modern coins, trying various chisels and such and those didn't work. The author ended up putting it in a vice, wrapped in leather to get a good grip on it and to keep the upper part from flying across the floor, and whacking it with a hammer. That was the only way he could reproduce the effect. Unfortunately, I have about 12 years of Celator back issues and though the magazine is archived online, it's not easily searchable.
