Were there any siege tokens or merchant pieces made from French 5 centimes pieces? This appears to be stamped with 4 individual punches: D, U, U, I (4th one is the weakest, so I'm guessing there) I came across this stamped piece in a diverse collection & am trying to figure out if there's any known significance for the punches. Thanks!
Some people have nothing better to do with their time. They probably tear pages out of their history books, as well. ~ Chris
There was a thread earlier about some Napoleon III coppers which were defaced during the WW2 era. Many were also defaced as a political statement in the late 1800s due to the unpopularity of his loss during the Franco-Prussian War.
Hmm. I could see "Sedan" being a political statement. Any idea what the letter BUUI could mean in any arrangement?
I couldn't actually make out the letters to tell what if anything they say. If you look at the placement, though, they are not random-looking but focused on the mouth, eyes and ear. That suggests a grudge to me rather than just bored defacement.
The 1870s satirical pieces (both counterstamped and engraved) that were made after the French loss to the Prussians in the Battle of Sedan have always interested me. That's what made me open this thread. But I have no idea what happened to the coin in the OP here. Perhaps random counterstamping by a bored person, as suggested. Then again, @alurid might be onto something with his "hear no, see no, speak no" comment, as it seems pretty non-random that ol' Nappy3 got his ear, eye, and mouth stamped out, and there aren't punches anywhere else.
When I see a very worn host coin like this I always wonder if some one was just trying to make a worn coin more sale-able
