Deliberate Post Mint Damage - Why? - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 795
SallyG Valued Member Australia 382 Posts	Posted 12/16/2023 04:01 am Sorting out my 'odds and sods' coins today (too much rain to do much else) and found these PMD coins. There seems to be a common theme of belting a number in the lower righthand corner on most of them. Some have another punched into the other side too. I just wonder what might be the motivation to do this? And "SODOM"? Every now and then I find coins that someone has damaged, just wondering why? I have seen deliberately damaged coins on ebay described as "error" coins (and that is just to prey on the gullible and naive) but why deliberately damage the coin and send it back into circulation? Maybe they were hoping to find it again? Thoughts? Report this Post to the Staff

Sap Moderator Australia 16805 Posts	Posted 12/16/2023 06:18 am The simple answer to your question of "why" is, "because humans are weird". To find out specific reasons for each coin, you'd need to ask the specific person doing that specific damage. But we can sometimes make educated guesses. Sometimes, someone has bought a new metal punch set, and wants to test it out on a piece of metal - and a coin just happens to be a handy piece of metal. Sometimes, people are using it to send subtle or not-so-subtle messages. I suspect "SODOM" is attempting to send some kind of religious message ("Australians are a bunch of sinners" or some such). And yes, in case you were wondering, deliberately defacing current coins in this way is still illegal in Australia - which is why actually finding people who admit to doing this is usually difficult. Section 16 of the Crimes (Currency) Act 1981. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
Coinfrog Bedrock of the Community United States 94367 Posts	Posted 12/16/2023 06:35 am You couldn't imagine the terror I inflicted on cents when I was a kid. Report this Post to the Staff
ijn1944 Bedrock of the Community United States 19108 Posts	Posted 12/16/2023 07:21 am Yes, people being people... Report this Post to the Staff
coaster Pillar of the Community Australia 1364 Posts	Posted 12/16/2023 08:16 am Quote: There seems to be a common theme of belting a number in the lower righthand corner on most of them. Not only are most examples stamped in the same location, on the same side and on the same denomination, but most stamped numbers also appear to be of similar size and font. Surely there must be more behind this then first meets the eye! I vaguely remember reading somewhere that these stamped coins may have been used for testing vending machines? Here is an example one that I came across while noodling a while back. Report this Post to the Staff
Basil Pillar of the Community Australia 1039 Posts	Posted 12/16/2023 6:11 pm Quote: Surely there must be more behind this then first meets the eye! I vaguely remember reading somewhere that these stamped coins may have been used for testing vending machines? Yes,we had marked $ coins for our pinball/jukebox/games etc.,staff could use them to burley the machines,we got them back at the 2 weekly count. We had a 24 hour Roadhouse in Northern NSW and the take from our machines was amazing,well over A$1500 a fortnight,over $2000 in holiday periods, of which we got to keep 50%. Report this Post to the Staff
ryurazu Pillar of the Community Australia 1333 Posts	Posted 12/17/2023 5:44 pm well I guess most are just a test of stamps, I'm guessing. However as you can see some are a bit more sadistic. Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 6 / Views: 795

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