Mystery Damage On 1846 Large Cents

Hello everyone, I recently acquired 2 Large Cents. One is clearly a tall date from 1846. The other is much thinner and not distinguishable except for the wheat pattern on the back. I am assumming that, since tgey were found together, in an office of a restaurant in Virginia, it is the same or very close. The mystery comes in because each has a unique damage that seems that it was done back then for some purpose. One has a you shape cutout at the top of the coin 1/3 of the way through. The other has an X or Cross Hammered into the face of it. So the question is, were these damages for some purpose such as removing them from curculation or as a tool? I can easily imagine someone using the you cutout for removing caps from a rifle(for example). Someone suggested to me that the X mark may have been for checkers or some similar game. I am just reaching out to you all who may have seen someth8ng like this before. Also, as this is my first post, please forgive if this is in the wrong forum or improper format. Thanks!