hand stamped into coin

hi all - my dad (british descent, emigrated to the US in mid 1950's), has an interesting old coin collection that we've been going through.

One of the coins is a 1797 coin from England - a 1 Penny - George III 2nd Issue; 'Cartwheel'.

it's a fairly worn coin, but its unique as it has a very deep stamp into the face with King George III's bust - it's a stamp of a raised hand.  it's so deep the coin has been made concave due to the power of the strike.

anybody every seen anything like this before?  my pops was a collector of some interesting and old things.  we have a pewter collection that has some pieces that are probably several hunder years old at least.  and a working flintlock that is probably 17thor 18th century vintage.  Im sharing this because he had a penchant for finding interesting stuff, so I was curious if anyonebody had the provenance of the stamped coin.  

thanks in advance

David

I'll post some pictures of the coin when I get the chance to post them. thanks again!

here's some pics of the stamped coin

Welcome to Numista. Although illegal, It was not uncommon for a kings bust on a coin to be defaced in protest of something.  George III was blamed for losing the U.S. colonies for instance among other controversies. Another example would be that KIng Edward VII coins were defaced with “Votes for Women” promoting woman's suffrage during his reign. Nobody can say for certain who  or for what purpose your example was defaced, right over his bust I might add, but this not unheard of.

thank you for that response.

that's  interesting.  knowing my father (having British lineage going back to before the date of this coin), it was probably an heirloom from an irreverent ancestor.  we do have a bunch of other items, silver, pewter and more, some dating to even the 17th century, so this would not surprise me lol.

Interesting countermark. By the style I would say first half of the 19th century.

I checked Greg Brunk series of articles in the NI Bulletin on political countermarks, but this one isn't there. This just means that it was probably not seen by Brunk, not that he saw it and rejected it; it may well be political.

In this respect, have a look at this recent thread on an exhibit that came to Toronto recently. I got the catalogue of the exhibit as well. It looks like the cartwheel penny and tuppence were a choice host for countermarkers. I have a few myself with one that may be political.

See also this older thread on countermark identification. Unfortunately, many links are now broken.

It could be fenian propaganda from Ireland. 

Offa

It could be fenian propaganda from Ireland. 

Ooohh… That sounds like a good call – the “Red Hand of Ulster” and sometimes it's the left hand that is used.