This appeared in Will de Seive's These Card Tricks, 1936, p. 8, under the title “Contact Card,” before being published in Greater Magic, 1938, p. 478.

Daniel Rhod reports the use of a coin to mark a card with an embossing as a cheating method in the 1800s. It was described by Augustin Cavaillé in his card sharping treatise, Les filouteries du jeu, 1875, p. 78. The description is quite brief: “La marque à la pièce: Le grec opère une pression sur la carte au moyen d’une pièce d’or ou d’argent à bords dentelés.” (The coin mark: The Greek presses the card with a gold or silver coin with serrated edges.) It isn't clear how the card was used: as a tactile mark or as a means to force or control a cut.