Attached hopefully is a small example of some coins that were brought back from Europe by a WW2 D-Day veteran. In his accumulation were many coins from the UK and every single one of them has been defaced with lead or some type of solder. I am hoping someone here may know why this was done. He had coins from France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Nazi Germany also but none of those were defaced in any way, just the coins from the UK and again, every one of them.
Looks like they were ex-jewelry pieces to me. The other sides are probably cleaned or polished if I were to guess.
Brits might countermark but anyone in uniform would not deface a coin. Could be lead and not trying to be morbid could be battle field pick ups and circulated to honour those carrying them. I have never seen such coins. Thank you for sharing. So interesting.
Sorry for not posting a reverse photo but the other side of each coin is normal and they do not appear polished in any way.
Looks like solder to me. I concur with the "ex-jewelry" opinion, even if the other sides are not especially polished. By "ex-jewelry" I would include such things as mounted on a box or furniture, etc.