Attribution? OK, the digit is 'sliced'/damaged, and you can see part of the damage on the right side of the '6' also. What other kind of attribution are you looking for?
I agree...the "6" is definitely damage...but the "0" is clearly a die break/gouge of some sort. I agree that the "0" could be sliced/damaged...but on the die itself. Just look at the residual metal at the top of the "0" from 1:00-2:00. No way that's PMD.
Are you suggesting that die cuds are PMD? Ok...I looked you up. You "should" know what you're talking about. However, unless you can offer any additional information, I'll have to trust my eyes and respectfully disagree.
.....who actually stole it from the soviets. now who do you trust, the original owner of the proverb, or the thief who stole it?
Could you at least explain how a "damaged digit" (post mint) results in raised metal perfectly blended with the flow of the metal that makes up the digit? How is that even possible? Is this an optical illusion?
Welcome to CT Carl. That is definitely an odd coin and no matter what caused it, I would put it in a 2x2 and keep it. Good luck.
Something like a coin roll crimping machine cuts into the raised top part of the 0 and pushes it over towards the center. Copper is soft/malleable and there have been pics of slanted digits and letters from roll crimping damage posted here in the past. As it circulates the sharper edges and scraped surface wear until those features are no longer visible and it looks like it was “as struck”. You can see some of the displaced metal at the top of the 0 as well. You can see a similar effect on some coins that suffered a thin cut/slice and continued to circulate. The displaced metal will wear down slightly and can cover the thin slit, leaving only a raised feature that can be mistaken for die damage. Sorry, I don’t have any pics to help with the explanation, but members may recall coins like this from past posts that are now in the archives