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in spite of warnings that defacing coins is a Federal offense, it has been common for years, with engraving, drilling and, of course, flattening on railroad tracks.
The last one was especially fun (and cheap) with pennies and massively heavy steam locomotives even though your mother had three or four reasons why you were forbidden to do so.
Earlier purer and softer metal coins were easier to work with.
On the month-long boat trip to Vietnam in 1966, silver quarters were still in circulation and bored troops discovered that the steel spoons from the mess hall (or whatever the Navy called it) could be used to hammer the quarters into various shapes including rings.
It took a lot of hammering and the process was far from quiet. After a couple of weeks of constant ding-ding-ding, the fad thankfully died out.
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