Gold mein: Mystery as Nazi symbols and swastika are found stamped on British coins

Blackleaf

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An unsettling mystery is unfolding as a number of British coins have been found with Nazi symbols stamped on them.

A horrified shopper spotted a swastika on Queen Elizabeth's head on a 50p, in an odd wave of findings the Royal Mint says it is aware of.

Some people believe a Second World War enthusiast is stamping the coins at home and then putting them back into circulation.


GOLD MEIN Mystery as Nazi symbols and swastikas found stamped onto British £2 and 50p coins

Some people believe a Second World War enthusiast is stamping the coins at home and then putting them back into circulation


By Ellie Cambridge
12th September 2017
The Sun

AN unsettling mystery is unfolding as a number of British coins have been found with Nazi symbols stamped on them.

A horrified shopper spotted a swastika on Queen Elizabeth's head on a 50p, in an odd wave of findings the Royal Mint says it is aware of.


One person found an eagle - a Nazi symbol - stamped on a 1997 50p coin


Another person found the same symbol on a £2 coin


This 50p coin had a swastika and a Nazi eagle daubed onto Queen Elizabeth's face

Some people believe a Second World War enthusiast is stamping the coins at home and then putting them back into circulation.

Others have found similar offensive motifs on £2 and 50p coins.

A 1997 coin was adorned with the Nazi Party’s eagle symbol, known as a Reichsadler and used between 1935 and 1945.

Another 50p discovered in July 2015 was stamped with a bird carrying a Swastika and on the other side the initials SS - representing the Nazi paramilitary Schutzstaffel group.

The Mint’s currency security technical expert, Scott Kuperus, said: ”The Royal Mint strongly disapproves of the defacing of coins in this way, as such action could bring into question the integrity of the United Kingdom coinage.

“Doing so is often counterproductive as the defaced coins are quickly removed from circulation.”


This coin has 'SS' embossed on it



Nicola Harrison, 37, posted a snap of her eerie 50p coin on Facebook at the weekend to ask if anyone else had seen one.

She said she was now too scared to spend it in case she gets arrested.

Nicola was given it in change after she bought a drink with a £5 note at a petrol station in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

She said: “I have never seen a coin with this on.

“I don’t like what it represents at all. My first thought was how has someone managed to get away with this?”

And the coin isn’t the first to be spotted doing the rounds.

Another coin collector said he’d found the symbols on a £2 coin he received in Coventry the same year and wrote about it on a coin collecting website.

He said: “I received a £2 coin in my change today and noticed the Queen’s face has been defaced.

“It has been stamped with an eagle stood upon the swastika and also has SS on the back. Is this illegal?”



Similar coins have been found in Germany, where Nazi symbols are illegal.

Earlier this year, a €2 coin was discovered at a restaurant in the city of Neuss stamped with banned imperial eagles and a swastika.

Luke Hearn, of UK change collection website Change Checker, said the doctored coins were worthless because of their evil associations.

He said: “This is the first I’ve seen of this and hopefully the last.

“Being very honest, I can’t imagine these being worth anything as I can’t believe there’s anyone who’d want to buy them.”

On a thread on the subject, posted on chat site Reddit, one coin enthusiast said: “They have a custom stamp made and they must have just struck it with a hammer because it flattened the other side whereas a press would have supported the back.

“Someone out there is pretty dedicated, and I'd like to know which manufacturer would create a Nazi stamp. Pretty interesting.”

Earlier this year a chest that could contain £100million of Nazi gold was found in the wreck of a German cargo ship.

A Brit crew spotted the trove in the post room of the SS Minden, scuttled off Iceland.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/4445364/nazi-symbols-swastikas-british-2-50p-coins/
 

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
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Where did they get the Nazi stamp from?

A fifteen-year-old could duplicate almost any symbol in an industrial arts class. The swastika could be made using just a file. The eagle would require a bit more artistic skill, but could easily be done by anyone with a few engraving tools. You can pretty much buy the tools in any hardware store or hobby shop.

Dremel® Electric Engraving Tool


Dremel® Electric Engraving Tool - Lee Valley Tools
 

ZulFiqar786

Electoral Member
Sep 12, 2017
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The symbol of the swastika and other overt racist symbols should be banned. Public display of them should be grounds for criminal charges, this includes variations of the swastika, and the swastika as displayed by Hindus and Buddhists as a symbol of peace, since it is a highly offensive symbol that has come to be associated with Aryan supremacism and Nazi anti-Semitism.
 

ZulFiqar786

Electoral Member
Sep 12, 2017
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Brampton ON




As I said, because it’s a symbol of racism and White supremacy. It is a highly offensive symbol. Interestingly, this symbol is also being used by ultra-nationalist Hindus to express a form of Aryan Hindu supremacy. In light of these facts, the public display of the swastika should be unlawful. The criminal code should be amended to this effect.
 

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
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With a Dremel? Are you high?

Apparently you are not mechanically minded. Dremels and tools like them are regularly used to engrave metal. There are dozens of how-to videos showing Dremels and similar tools in action. All you need is a carbide tipped bit.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Apparently you don't know that a die is made of much harder steel than the material a die is struck on.

Which file type or bit would you use on high carbon steel?

Even a hardened carbon steel file won't file hardened carbon steel.
 

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
8,252
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Edmonton
Apparently you don't know that a die is made of much harder steel than the material a die is struck on.

Which file type or bit would you use on high carbon steel?

Even a hardened carbon steel file won't file hardened carbon steel.

What is normally used on high carbon steel? I'm quite sure that if high carbon steel can be acquired then bits to cut it could be acquired as well. They are not restricted tools.

In any case, the crude swastika cut on the first coin could have been cut with an ordinary household tools. The second appears to have been stamped, but just how hard the die would have to be depends on the hardness of the coin and as far as l know coins are not made of high carbon steel.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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You tell me what type of tips and files you need to make a die that is a few mm in size but detailed enough to clearly recognize Nazi symbology out of high carbon steel or "carbide" at high school.

Ordinary household tools eh?
 

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
8,252
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Edmonton
You tell me what type of tips and files you need to make a die that is a few mm in size but detailed enough to clearly recognize Nazi symbology out of high carbon steel or "carbide" at high school.

Ordinary household tools eh?

You show me a coin made out of high carbon steel first. I'm not sure why you are arguing this. Are you claiming that the British mint stamped these coins? Obviously they are the work of just a few individuals who have taken the time and effort to stamp or engrave a few coins.