My altered copper and bronze coins include a French ten centimes coin of 1854 showing Emperor Napoleon III wearing a Prussian spiked helmet. This is clearly a reference to his 1871 defeat in a war with the Prussians. A 1866 Italian copper coin has King Victor Emanuel wearing a papal crown. This must be connected with the conquest of the papal states in the political unification of Italy. A Belgian twenty centimes coin put a fireman's helmet on King Leopold's head while an 1882 British penny portrayed Queen Victoria in a Salvation Army bonnet. These were meant to be funny. What is beneficial to the collector is that these altered coins are considered to be damaged coins and they usually sell for less than an unaltered coin. So, go out and find some of these coins. What they say can be illuminating.
Altering coins, which can be a criminal offence, is something most of us would never do. Before the Second World War, it was a common practice. Personal initials and love messages were often engraved on a planed smooth side. A hole would be made so the coin could be suspended from the neck. I have some of these but I find others that changed a ruler's portrait more interesting. The intent of the re-engraver might be to make a political statement, to make a joke, of simply to make something for sale. For an illustration I have chosen three silver coins and one cupro-nickel one because they have more contrast than copper or bronze ones, which were also modified. In the illustration you can see a German three marks coin of 1908 which has added a top hat to the kaiser's bust. Kaiser Wilhelm did aspire to be an English gentleman. Below it is a "Hobo nickel" made from an American cupro-nickel, Indian head, five cent piece. What the re-engraver intended to convey by the changes can only be guessed. These altered nickels were made to be sold as souvenirs in the 1930s. On the right hand are two 1896 shillings of the Boers' South African Republic. President Paul Kruger is shown with a straw hat and a German pipe added. This may be a reference to the Afrikaaners' reliance on Germany for weapons to resist the forced absorption of their republic into the British Empire? The shilling at the bottom has Paul Kruger in the uniform of a British prisoner. This could wishful thinking by a British soldier who might have made this change.
ALTERED COINS by Peter N. Moogk
The Vancouver Numismatic Society