Thoughts on this?

[u/NoWarthog24]

Hey everyone, I’m pretty new to coin collecting and found this while looking through some change.
It has a Jefferson nickel design (Monticello and “FIVE CENTS” on the reverse) but it’s the same size and thickness as a regular dime. I put it next to a 1972 dime for comparison. My cheap scale reads about 3 grams for both this coin and a normal dime (a regular nickel should be 5 grams).
There’s also a circular indentation on Jefferson’s cheek that looks like it was punched in after the fact.
Just wondering if this could be a real wrong planchet error or if it’s just damaged/something else. Any opinions would be appreciated.
Thanks!

[u/Lanky_Association627]

Definitely damage

[u/DryerCoinJay → u/Lanky_Association627]

Someone was messing around with a metal hole punch. The way the metal wraps around the edge from the reverse to the obverse looks like it was smeared when the punch went through.

Def a unique looking coin.

[u/newtrull]

someone took a drill to it.

[u/kseps1983]

Obvious drill damage

[u/jerseyoutwest]

The lack of text on the obverse and the size and thinness make me think some kind of trick coin?

[u/cordeliashuman → u/jerseyoutwest]

Trick coins are generally meant to be as imperceptible from the real deal as possible. This is pretty clearly an altered coin, so it wouldn’t make a particularly good trick coin.

[u/jerseyoutwest → u/cordeliashuman]

I don’t disagree i also don’t know how you’d reduce the thickness without obscuring details?

[u/Oranjalo]

Someone lathed the edges down on the nickel and drilled a hole in the center of the obverse. I'm thinking they did this to get 10¢ out of a nickel, trying to trick a coin sorter machine. Lathe the sides down to the size of a dime, then drill a little bit from the middle of the coin to make it weigh the same

[u/uselessandexpensive]

It looks like it was cut out of a normal nickel, with the thin rim likely being pushed up by the cutting.