Need help

[Yenges Khan]

I found this large cent yesterday. It has 5 indentations in the face with them protruding out on the back side. What are these? Counter marks? Chop marks? What were they used for? Any help please. Thanks

 

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[Lafitte Deux]

They look likes marks from shotgun pellets.

 

[Yenges Khan]

They look likes marks from shotgun pellets.

After your answer I did some googling. I found this coin and 4 others all relatively close to each other. There was a 1827 dime and 3 other LCs. 1849, 1847 and 1846. This one is hard to read. I can tell from the head shape that it is older than the other 3. I believe it's 1817 or 27. More so on the 1817. Anyway to the point. I believe they are from the same drop which had to be after 1850. The modern shotgun as we know wasn't invented till 1878. However the blunderbuss was as early as the pilgrims but wasn't that popular in the states. By the time of mid 19th century they were obsolete. But also anything could of been loaded into the musket and shot. I just don't think that it could of been shot by pellets around this time. It's possible and would be extremely cool if the person who was holding the coin got peppered with a blast and it hit the coin. I thought maybe a local merchant in the area may have struck the coin with a hammer and tap every time it was circulated and wondering if anyone has heard of this happening.

 

[DCMatt]

Looks to me like someone was trying to punch a hole in the coin without success.

this should be fun post coins with holes | Page 4 | Coin Talk

DCMatt

 

[cudamark]

Judging by the wear on the coin, it's entirely possible that it was hit with a shot gun blast in the 1880's or even a bit later. The dimples look newer than the wear on the coin.

 

[Notyourbffmark]

I looks like some kid was hitting it with a nail and hammer. Perhaps it was shot with a blunderbuss.

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

annie oakleys training coin?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

1- Lead buckshot are incapable of making the punch-point dents in the thick copper coin.
2- The backside photo shows the reverse side of the dents is flat. That absolutely means the coin was laid on a flat iron surface when the hammer-driven punch was used to make the dents.
3- A nail's point would have made a very NARROW V-shaped dent, which isn't the shape of the dents on the coin. Instead, the dents look rounded-bottomed enough to reflect light, as seen in the photo.

So, that coin definitely was not shot by buckshot... the dents were made by a punch tool.