The evidence presented here suggests that the ‘Votes for Women’ coins, or at least those that can be relatively securely attributed to an early date, were defaced by the same set of alphabet punches and, by inference, the same hand, in the years 1913–14. Symbolically, the practice of defacing a coin represented the same ideological protest against the laws of the country as other acts of suffragette militarism. Yet their potential impact as circulating instruments of propaganda was limited by the unsophisticated and inefficient way in which they were produced. The study has suggested that comparatively few were made, and that the campaign was sustained over a relatively brief period. Instead, ‘Votes for Women’ coins owe their current prominence within suffragette material culture to institutional intervention which, although well-intentioned, has inadvertently stimulated the production of forgeries. Despite their recent inclusion in the suffragette historiography, therefore, these coins were, for the best part of a century, of peripheral relevance to the story of how women gained the vote.

The Streisand Effect working long before there was a name for it hahaha. Cool little part of history!