1797 George III Penny unusual marks

[Guest Jon Hill]

Hi,

Yesterday I found a 1797 George III "cartwheel" penny. There are some unsual marks on the head side which consist of four regular oval indentations roughly 2mm x 1mm and about 1mm deep one at each the top, bottom left and right see diagram below.

o

o o

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They are stamped into the coin and corresponding bulges can be seen in the metal on the reverse.

Can anyone tell me what these are?

Regards,

Jon Hill

[Guest Guest]

Sorry the diagram didn't come out properly,

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----------------o----------o

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Ignore the dashes.

Jon

[Chris Perkins]

Probably some kind of advertising marks, or what's left of them. At that time many merchants stamped coins with adverts so as the coin circulated they would get free advertising. Or it could just be graffitii, that's common on coins of that age too.