They can, and it is worth knowing where the weakness sits. Removing metal from inside a coin leaves narrow bridges between the voids, and those bridges are the failure point rather than the coin as a whole.

A coin with one large central cutout and generous metal around it is essentially as strong as a solid coin. A coin with several voids separated by thin strips is not, and a hard enough knock in the wrong place can bend or break one of those strips.

How this gets handled: during the design stage our artists check the bridges and widen any that are too thin for the metal and thickness you have chosen. That adjustment is normal work rather than a rejection of your concept, and on most designs the change is small enough that nobody notices it in the finished coin.

What affects the margin:

  • Bridge width. The single biggest factor.
  • Coin thickness. A 4mm coin tolerates narrower bridges than a thinner one.
  • Base metal. Cast zinc alloy behaves differently from struck brass.
  • Where the void sits. Cutouts near the outer edge leave less supporting material than central ones.

See shaped and cutout coins in the gallery, or request a free quote with your design.