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Why Do Some Coins Have Ridges Around the Edges?

bigsiteofamazingfacts.com — Perhaps you noticed that United States dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and silver dollars have ridges, or grooves, around their edges. They were not put there for decoration, but had a very important purpose at one time in history.

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  • allaboutdatiki, on 11/18/2007, -7/+78I have learned something new today and it's only 9:12 in the morning. woo hoo!
    • PathDaemon, on 11/18/2007, -3/+62SPOILER/mirror:

      Coins used to be worth their actual value in metal (imagine that!). Scammers would shave metal off the edges of all their coins and pass them on, eventually making a profit. The ridges would make it obvious if the edge was tampered with.

      Something for allaboutdatiki to learn before dinner: The mints are starting to do away with ridges and instead print text on the edges of coins. First example: the new dollar coin, which the mint actually wants people to start using instead of a paper dollar. The coins are cheaper to make ("more profit for the mint!" -mint spokesman) and shinier to boot!
      • yaddayaddayoda, on 11/18/2007, -8/+3... back when we had currency that was based on precious metal, instead of fiat currency.

        Excuse me, there is someone knocking at my door.
      • diggduggok, on 11/18/2007, -4/+27"The Kit Kat candy bar has the name 'Kit Kat' imprinted in the chocolate. That robs you of chocolate! Kit Kat has come up with a clever chocolate saving-technique. I'm gonna go down to the Kit Kat factory, and say 'Hey, you owe me some letters.'"
        --mitch hedberg
      • Giga, on 11/19/2007, -2/+22Strange, I thought the ridges were so blind people could feel the difference between the coins.
        • tech42er, on 11/19/2007, -0/+5That's just what they want you to think. ;)
        • goldfishey, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1no in australia at least the $2 $1, 20c, 10c, and 5c peices which are all round all have different numbers of groves so blind people can tell them apart more easily. The 50c piece which is a 12 sided coin, has no grooves.
        • bsolidgold, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2I thought it was for the deaf people...
      • quomen, on 11/19/2007, -1/+6This is wrong. It's used to scratch the grey ***** off of those gas station contest tickets.
        • ophello, on 11/19/2007, -3/+2most people call those scratch-its
          • macbookpromat, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2I thought they were called scratch-&-wins. Guess I learn something new everyday.
          • ChromaVita, on 11/19/2007, -1/+4No way, I've never heard them called anything but scratch offs.
          • get2ge4, on 11/19/2007, -1/+3I've always known them as Scratchies.
          • bsolidgold, on 11/19/2007, -0/+3'Lottery Tickets' maybe?
          • diktator279, on 11/20/2007, -0/+1Scratch and Sniff?
    • PathDaemon, on 11/18/2007, -17/+2Grammar save: "The ridges made it obvious if an edge had been tampered with."
      • Tenoq, on 11/18/2007, -2/+13Fail. You still ended your sentence with a preposition. :P
    • Jams, on 11/19/2007, -0/+3That's why out one pound coin says "DECUS ET TUTAMEN" around the edge. It translates as "An ornament and a safeguard"
    • brjndr, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2I had a teacher who told use that when coins were made of precious metals that people would put the coins in burlap or leather bags and toss them around, and they metal would slowly coat the inside of the bag. It's like shaving the coin, but you're getting a little off the entire coin.
  • wisam, on 11/18/2007, -9/+39Well, I always thought thats why coins historically became grooved at edges in the Old World. After all, Americans didn't invent coins nor invented greed.
    • james.mattson, on 11/18/2007, -18/+12Nah we just refined it.
    • fudgeigor, on 11/18/2007, -5/+4Thats right, because we make everything efficient, or is that the Japanese?
    • suprchunk, on 11/18/2007, -10/+6Nowhere in the article did I see mention of America inventing anything. But continue your ignorance.
      • wisam, on 11/19/2007, -7/+7Didn't the article imply that the American government "invented" the grooving of coins? But continue your idiocy.
      • MaxPayne3476, on 11/19/2007, -4/+8... no I don't think the article IMPLIED that the American government invented ridged coins. Your comment implied that you're a douche.
        • wisam, on 11/19/2007, -4/+2"To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the edges so a coin could easily be identified if it was trimmed." That doesn't imply it? Do you even know what IMPLY means?
          The article didn't explicitly state that the American government invented it, but it also only mentions the problem and the solution in the America (wrongly) suggesting (i.e implying) that it was exclusively American.
        • duo8675309, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2check and mate
        • goldfishey, on 11/19/2007, -1/+3@ wisam. No id doesnt. It just says the government started doing it. They may have adopted the practice from another country that already grooved their coins. Although that being said, I cant find any reference to reeding prior to the American adoption of the practice.
    • robschraer, on 11/19/2007, -3/+2HEY! we made not have invented greed but we sure as hell are good at it... yeah so you just keep ur trap shut the next time you talk bad about the good ole US of A you hear me boy..... 9/11
  • anareric, on 11/18/2007, -3/+163For the same reason Ruffles have ridges
    • PhillyMJS, on 11/18/2007, -3/+45To make them stronger so they don't break off in the dip? Interesting theory.
    • ikrit2006, on 11/19/2007, -0/+23So people couldn't file off the edges and sell them for the original value?
  • fruitllama, on 11/18/2007, -24/+18I remember in grade school, some kids ground down the faces of pennies by rubbing them on tarmac with their feet. The end result were blanks with shiny faces. Pretty cool at the time. Lotsa kids got tricked by them.
    • DarkDx, on 11/18/2007, -20/+6-5 diggs...
      What the ***** is wrong with digg users?
    • ajchavar, on 11/18/2007, -0/+24how do you trick someone with that? by making them think its a *real* penny? thats not a trick/thats useless.
  • DVmaker, on 11/18/2007, -6/+1Mirror?
  • mgkwho, on 11/18/2007, -17/+5and it's down

    -=|Mgkwho
    • Lanlost, on 11/19/2007, -1/+0I've never (literally) seen a signature in a Digg post. I forgot they exist .. I don't really go to forums much anymore.
  • Celeron, on 11/18/2007, -6/+24Mirror: http://72.14.253.104/search?hs=sUq&hl=en&lr=&c2cof ...
  • orgazmo, on 11/18/2007, -17/+9Site is down, but I'm gonna go with "Blind People"?
    • JanYpe, on 11/18/2007, -7/+9I'm gonna go with the "NWO", with a dash of "teh joos"

      That should cover the usual bases.
    • Tmax88, on 11/18/2007, -13/+0Yes, because I always see blind people out and about on the town, buying stuff and going places unassisted.
      • bingobongony, on 11/18/2007, -1/+12ummm...they DO do that you know...
        • Tmax88, on 11/21/2007, -0/+0Very few do. We'd like them to and we think it's their "right" to so we make lots of changes in society like ridges on train platforms and braille on elevators but the truth is that almost no blind people roam around the city with any semblance of normality. These are simply measures to make us feel good.
      • tech42er, on 11/19/2007, -0/+4And next we'll see the ***** goin' all 'round town, attending to their business all unassisted and like. Them's needy people can't be a-doing all this alone.

        /sarcasm
  • tethead, on 11/18/2007, -5/+2MySQL error... now i really want to know!!!!
    • theblacknight, on 11/18/2007, -1/+2So you can't shave the silver (when it was silver) off the edges and put them back in circulation for $0.10 or $0.25.
    • Archaic1, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1It's because back when the designs were first being put together a group of ninja chiropractors broke into the mint under the cover of night, changed the plans to add an extra 1.53% weight to the coin, thereby setting off an extra few lower back complications per year to fund their secret underground resorts in Africa.
  • mrogi, on 11/18/2007, -24/+2Never mind the coins. I wanna know why my ***** has ridges at the base of the helmet. Should I get a checkup?
  • yourmightyruler, on 11/18/2007, -0/+111Server Down.
    Google Cache got it:
    http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:http://www.big ...

    But slow, so:

    Why Do Some Coins Have Ridges Around the Edges?
    Submitted by big on Sat, 2007-10-27 18:19.

    Perhaps you noticed that United States dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and silver dollars have ridges, or grooves, around their edges. They were not put there for decoration, but had a very important purpose at one time in history.

    During our country's earlier years, all coins were made of gold or silver, and did not have ridges. Each coin's value was based on the amount of gold or silver in it. For example, a $10 gold piece contained ten dollars worth of gold, and silver dimes contained ten cents worth of silver.

    But some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They filed off the edges and sold them for their value in gold or silver. The smaller-sized coin often went unnoticed, but this dishonest practice decreased the value of the original gold or silver coin.

    To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the edges so a coin could easily be identified if it was trimmed.

    Coins today are no longer made of pure gold or silver, but the milled edges remain because people are accustomed to seeing them that way.

    At the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, one single stamping machine can produce 10,000 coins every minute of every hour of every day of the week!
    • anononon, on 11/18/2007, -7/+3I knew this! Yay me!
    • shodanx, on 11/18/2007, -2/+5"At the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, one single stamping machine can produce 10,000 coins every minute of every hour of every day of the week!"
      ah, so that's why the value of your dollar has been tanking
    • Zbrah, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2Actually reeding was invented during the Roman Empire to prevent coin clipping...So it's much older than America's history...
  • iota, on 11/18/2007, -4/+10Site is down but the reason (stolen from another site):

    This practice of reeding a coins edges goes back to a time when coins were made of precious metal.
    More so with silver and gold coins than copper or bronze, people would shave a little bit of metal off each coin they handled.
    Over a short time they would have a pile of silver or gold shavings and the coins returned to circulation would be light, but still, usually accepted at face value.
    The ridges (known as REEDING) was one way to detect if the coin had been altered.
    Some coins also used edge lettering but this is a more expensive than reeding.
    • iota, on 11/18/2007, -2/+4Thanks, digg, for posting my comment 5 minutes after i actually typed it up; when I posted this, the most recent comment was the one from mgkwho. *sigh*
  • kirtap, on 11/18/2007, -10/+200It's down, but the reason is:

    for her pleasure.
    • Legato, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2i searched for "pleasure" just to make sure somebody else had done it - i was not disappointed
  • nubnub, on 11/18/2007, -7/+3Perhaps you noticed that United States dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and silver dollars have ridges, or grooves, around their edges. They were not put there for decoration, but had a very important purpose at one time in history.

    During our country's earlier years, all coins were made of gold or silver, and did not have ridges. Each coin's value was based on the amount of gold or silver in it. For example, a $10 gold piece contained ten dollars worth of gold, and silver dimes contained ten cents worth of silver.

    But some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They filed off the edges and sold them for their value in gold or silver. The smaller-sized coin often went unnoticed, but this dishonest practice decreased the value of the original gold or silver coin.

    To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the edges so a coin could easily be identified if it was trimmed.

    Coins today are no longer made of pure gold or silver, but the milled edges remain because people are accustomed to seeing them that way.

    At the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, one single stamping machine can produce 10,000 coins every minute of every hour of every day of the week!
    • Marty1h, on 11/18/2007, -1/+2The ridges are older than the United States. The King or Queen would send coins down to the dungeon to be filed or "clipped". This is the first form of inflation. Now government just print more: How'd you like to turn a nickel's worth of paper into a $100 bill?
  • originofawful, on 11/18/2007, -7/+1Like Celeron2 Said: http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:5_ydGVaVS10J: ...
  • BETRAMS, on 11/18/2007, -10/+3Why Do Some Coins Have Ridges Around the Edges?
    Submitted by big on Sat, 2007-10-27 18:19.

    * Odds

    Perhaps you noticed that United States dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and silver dollars have ridges, or grooves, around their edges. They were not put there for decoration, but had a very important purpose at one time in history.

    During our country's earlier years, all coins were made of gold or silver, and did not have ridges. Each coin's value was based on the amount of gold or silver in it. For example, a $10 gold piece contained ten dollars worth of gold, and silver dimes contained ten cents worth of silver.

    But some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They filed off the edges and sold them for their value in gold or silver. The smaller-sized coin often went unnoticed, but this dishonest practice decreased the value of the original gold or silver coin.

    To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the edges so a coin could easily be identified if it was trimmed.

    Coins today are no longer made of pure gold or silver, but the milled edges remain because people are accustomed to seeing them that way.

    At the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, one single stamping machine can produce 10,000 coins every minute of every hour of every day of the week!
  • EvanVolm, on 11/18/2007, -11/+2Site seems to be down. FTA:

    Perhaps you noticed that United States dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and silver dollars have ridges, or grooves, around their edges. They were not put there for decoration, but had a very important purpose at one time in history.

    During our country's earlier years, all coins were made of gold or silver, and did not have ridges. Each coin's value was based on the amount of gold or silver in it. For example, a $10 gold piece contained ten dollars worth of gold, and silver dimes contained ten cents worth of silver.

    But some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They filed off the edges and sold them for their value in gold or silver. The smaller-sized coin often went unnoticed, but this dishonest practice decreased the value of the original gold or silver coin.

    To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the edges so a coin could easily be identified if it was trimmed.

    Coins today are no longer made of pure gold or silver, but the milled edges remain because people are accustomed to seeing them that way.

    At the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, one single stamping machine can produce 10,000 coins every minute of every hour of every day of the week!
  • fLUx1337, on 11/18/2007, -15/+6Dear Digg Submitters,

    Please do not use interesting questions in the title if you have even the slightest feeling the site is hosted on a shared server and will break after 10 diggs.

    Thanks!

    Somebody who wonders why some coins have ridges around the edges, and is heading to duggmirror now, then maybe Wikipedia if it didn't catch it in time.
  • JonTheGoose, on 11/18/2007, -4/+18I thought it was to make coins easier to pick up when laying on a flat surface....
    • gavintlgold, on 11/18/2007, -1/+14Interesting, but shouldn't the ridges be rotated 90 degrees then?
    • Frenzy44, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2that depends whether you are trying to pick up the coin using your nails (in this case you are correct) or using your finger w/o your fingernails (most males this is the case due to shorter fingernails). the pressure exerted from your finger on the coin causes your skin to 'wedge' into the ridges (vertical when the coin is laying flat) causing enough force to pick up the coin. this same effect is not as useful if the ridges were horizontal, while the coin is laying flat, because of the size of your finger and how low and small the coin is while laying flat.

      It would be nice to see the mints use vertical ridges, with maybe 1 or 2 grooves cut horizontally through the vertical ridges. but then again, they're just coins, so who cares.
    • leprix, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2then why aren't they on the penny, the second hardest coin to pick up?
  • Hayaemsay, on 11/18/2007, -14/+5Already knew this, but I'll be pretend to be interested for everyone else's sake.
  • chobit, on 11/18/2007, -3/+9Hm.. i always thought it was another indicator besides size to help determine what coin that is in your pocket. In any case, I use it for that purpose.
    • bingobongony, on 11/18/2007, -2/+16Yeah...that is what you TELL people when you get caught fumbling around in your pocket.
  • Snakedal337, on 11/18/2007, -21/+2This doesn't make much sense to me, how can you make a profit if its equal value?

    If I have a $10 gold coin, shave off $2 worth, its now $8, but that $2 didnt make it back into my pocket, I basically burned it away. So now I trade the $8 coin for a $10 cup. In the end the shaver makes no extra money, and the merchant gets ripped off.. why would any body do this? Even if you sell them for their original value.. your still not making any more money..
    • Monolith4, on 11/18/2007, -3/+26You are quite possibly the stupidest person on digg.
    • statc, on 11/18/2007, -0/+15you could shave a lot of coins, melt the shavings and sell the gold...
    • ch0p57ickz, on 11/18/2007, -1/+3ideally, they would save the shavings into one big pile until it gets large enough.. melt it down and sell the new gold/silver that they just made.
    • JFetch, on 11/18/2007, -0/+14I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.
    • JavertHolmes, on 11/18/2007, -0/+6The $2 worth of shavings you removed from a coin are, in themselves, really worth $2. They're shavings of a valuable material such as gold or silver. They're not burned off or smelted or any such thing. They're physically removed from the coin. If you were to shave 100 $10 coins, you would then have $200 in raw material shavings and $1000 in "legal" tender.
    • hatchetbearer, on 11/18/2007, -0/+0in your scenario, the shaved $2 would be saved and then cashed in for profit
    • TheClassic, on 11/18/2007, -0/+2Because you keep the shavings, and have $2 worth of gold shavings.
    • Snakedal337, on 11/18/2007, -4/+1@ all of you
      I suppose... but that could take...forever....
      • JavertHolmes, on 11/18/2007, -0/+9We're not talking $10 and $2 of today's currency. It would have been worth the effort at the time.
    • tempusrob, on 11/18/2007, -0/+3Collect the shavings and sell the metal, re-cast it into another coin, whatever ...
    • euvirtual, on 11/18/2007, -0/+2So, if you shaved your coins you would throw away the little bits, instead of saving them until you have enough to sell for profit?
    • prol, on 11/18/2007, -0/+1If the $10 gold coin still says $10, then most merchants would still take it as if it were worth $10.

      Now you can sell the scraps from all your coins for extra money.
    • cianuro, on 11/18/2007, -0/+2They don't just shave it off and throw it away! They melt it down and make new coins or whatever else they want with gold.
  • drewfer, on 11/18/2007, -6/+41Another fun fact: The reason we call a dollar a buck is because a buck skin was worth one dollar during the post revolution time.
  • AntidoteSqrd, on 11/18/2007, -8/+1Um, actually Newton proposed this idea back in the 17th century because of the same reason, not the US...
    • bingobongony, on 11/18/2007, -1/+5So? Who said the US invented the concept?
  • MalDON, on 11/18/2007, -4/+14I was lied to as a child. All my school teachers said it was for the blind. I never really thought that was the case though. How hard would it have been to make your own ridges though.
    • sgtbutterscotch, on 11/18/2007, -8/+4So blind people can feel the amount of ridges in each coin? Is that even possible?
      • flyingwolf, on 11/18/2007, -4/+4No moron, Pennies and Dimes are similar in size, so if you feel two coins, and one has ridges, its a dime, the other is a penny. Nickels and Quarters are somewhat close in size, same principle, it just happens to work that way, not the reason it was done though.
    • Endeavorer, on 11/18/2007, -2/+9Can't blind people jsut tell the difference in size...?
    • fantasmacanino, on 11/18/2007, -3/+14Seeming as you're finding out about the lies you were told as a child, I think I should tell you you're adopted.
    • smpx, on 11/19/2007, -0/+0wouldn't have been hard to make your own ridges, but it would've been far too much trouble to make perfectly adjusted ridges for each coin in exchange for the small financial return for them.
  • aflaks, on 11/18/2007, -10/+3cant any ***** server stay up when its websites are dugg? this is the ***** 21st century! Christ!
    • thebellmaster1x, on 11/18/2007, -2/+4Whoa! Calm down.
    • tech42er, on 11/19/2007, -0/+5I know what you mean. I could understand when a server went down after being dugg in the 19th and even the 20th century. But in the 21st century, this is unacceptable.
  • D3koy, on 11/18/2007, -10/+3I can't see the page! Ironic?
  • 7fields, on 11/18/2007, -8/+3If the scammers were smart enough to shave the coins on the edges, why didn't they put the grooves back on? I don't believe this.
    • tpizz, on 11/18/2007, -2/+7Maybe the grooves were there to deter the activity. It could be easy to shave a coin but putting ridges back on may not be worth your time.
    • senatorpjt, on 11/18/2007, -5/+4Supposedly they put the grooves on to prevent it. Although, it doesn't seem hard to shave the edges and to put grooves back on.
      • bingobongony, on 11/18/2007, -2/+1Seem like it would make it less wrothwhile. It is not like they were shaving down half hthe coin and getting away with it. They were looking to take a $10 gold coin and shave a few cents worth of gold. Maybe 25-50 cents worth so that no one would notice that it was smaller. For 50 cents, it is worth the time to shave it off. But it would NOT be worth the time it would take to shave it and then also re-groove it
    • edicius, on 11/18/2007, -1/+1Well, it's about the same as todays counterfeit prevention techniques. They are there to deter and inhibit, but counterfeiters always find a way around it.
  • MrLazySmurf, on 11/18/2007, -7/+1Down.. I guess that it was coin machines need the ridges to run smoothly in the machine.
  • jason13086, on 11/18/2007, -8/+2Why Do Some Coins Have Ridges Around the Edges?
    Submitted by big on Sat, 2007-10-27 18:19.

    Perhaps you noticed that United States dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and silver dollars have ridges, or grooves, around their edges. They were not put there for decoration, but had a very important purpose at one time in history.

    During our country's earlier years, all coins were made of gold or silver, and did not have ridges. Each coin's value was based on the amount of gold or silver in it. For example, a $10 gold piece contained ten dollars worth of gold, and silver dimes contained ten cents worth of silver.

    But some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They filed off the edges and sold them for their value in gold or silver. The smaller-sized coin often went unnoticed, but this dishonest practice decreased the value of the original gold or silver coin.

    To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the edges so a coin could easily be identified if it was trimmed.

    Coins today are no longer made of pure gold or silver, but the milled edges remain because people are accustomed to seeing them that way.

    At the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, one single stamping machine can produce 10,000 coins every minute of every hour of every day of the week!
  • Heiliger, on 11/18/2007, -6/+9...Because shooting them from a slingshot at birds makes a wonderful buzzing sound.
  • restlessdesign, on 11/18/2007, -4/+4This was the original term for "embezzlement". If memory serves me correctly, it was Ben Franklin who came up with the idea to cut the grooves in.
    • airstrike, on 11/19/2007, -1/+1i heard it was actually newton. neal stephenson's 'quicksilver', from the baroque cycle, reinforces that idea, even if more of a novel than a historical book.
    • Zbrah, on 11/19/2007, -1/+2it was the Romans!
  • ajchavar, on 11/18/2007, -7/+1hey it looks like its down, can someone please post the entire text of the article? kthxbai.
    • nontitle, on 11/19/2007, -3/+1hey it looks like you're *****, can you please look at the 20 other posts of the entire text of the article? kthxbai.
  • CraigJ, on 11/18/2007, -0/+20It's like in Office Space, and Superman 3, only different
  • PARAPA, on 11/18/2007, -1/+9I was miffed to see the site was down. But after reading the comments I now know why coins have ridges, posted by different people, over ten times!
    YAY digg!
  • ZenFountain, on 11/18/2007, -1/+9The Romans had this same problem with their coins, except they killed coin shavers and counterfeiters.
  • JoeLeo, on 11/18/2007, -0/+2Simple answer: To prevent people from shaving off the precious metal from the days when coins were made of gold and silver.
  • H0tKarl, on 11/18/2007, -2/+10The real question is "Why do Ruffles have ridges?"
    • Strongo, on 11/18/2007, -1/+19Ruffles have ridges for the blind to tell the difference between them and pringles
    • tech42er, on 11/19/2007, -0/+20Why Do Ruffles Have Ridges?
      Submitted by small on Sat, 2007-10-27 18:19.

      Perhaps you noticed that Ruffles have ridges, or grooves, on them. They were not put there for decoration, but had a very important purpose at one time in history.

      During our country's earlier years, all Ruffles were made of fried potatoes, and did not have ridges. Each chip's value was based on the amount of potatoes in it. For example, a $10 bag of chips contained ten dollars worth of potatoes, and sour cream and onion chips contained ten cents worth of spices.

      But some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these chips. They filed off the edges and sold them for their value in potatoes. The vending machine-sized bags often went unnoticed, but this dishonest practice decreased the value of the original family-size bag of chips.

      To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the chip so a chip could easily be identified if it was trimmed.

      Chips today are no longer made of pure potatoes, but the milled edges remain because it makes a great marketing gimmick.

      At the Ruffles factory in Philadelphia, one single chip machine can produce 10,000 chips every minute of every hour of every day of the week!
  • peaches017, on 11/18/2007, -6/+3It also helps blind people identify money.

    Small: Dimes have ridges, pennies don't
    Big: Quarters have ridges, nickels don't

    No one gives a ***** about others coins
    • TerrorByteX, on 11/18/2007, -3/+9I think a lot of people 'give a *****' about the loonie, which is stronger than the greenback right now, no?
    • pyromonkey, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1I dunno, dimes were silver, pennies were copper. Quarters were silver, nickels were nickel.
      I think it fits filing theory and maybe accidentally made it more useful for the blind in doing so.

      I give a ***** about the British Pounds right now, because that factors into how much I get paid in USD stationed in the UK woo.
  • disord3r, on 11/18/2007, -6/+0I can't be arsed to read through all the replies to see if it was noted, but the act of shaving an unnoticeable amount from the edges was called "clipping" or "coin clipping". This was indeed a protection against that.
    • skinrock, on 11/18/2007, -1/+3Can you be "arsed" to read the ***** article at least?
  • Toast1185, on 11/18/2007, -0/+3Grisham's Law (not CSI related)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham's_Law
    • Giga, on 11/19/2007, -1/+3If you don't want to confuse it with CSI, don't intentionally misspell it that way. There is no way that could have been an accidental misspelling when you spelled it two different ways in the same post.
  • TerrorByteX, on 11/18/2007, -3/+1Here's a fact about coins in general.

    If a coin has an odd number of sides, then the diameter of the coin is constant from any two points, and not constant if it has an even number of sides. For this reason, if coins have a lot of sides, they'll have odd sides. This so when you put it in a vending machine, it can always tell which coin it is from the size, which will only be constant with an odd number of sides.

    Not sure if that's true. Just so you guys know.
  • datamyte, on 11/18/2007, -2/+10But some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They filed off the edges and sold them for their value in gold or silver. The smaller-sized coin often went unnoticed, but this dishonest practice decreased the value of the original gold or silver coin.

    To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the edges so a coin could easily be identified if it was trimmed.

    Coins today are no longer made of pure gold or silver, but the milled edges remain because people are accustomed to seeing them that way.

    At the U.S. Mint, some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They made them worthless. Coins today are no longer made of pure gold or silver, but the milled edges and shiny surface remain because people are accustomed to seeing them that way. Thus providing the illusion that your money is worth something.

  • gism82, on 11/18/2007, -11/+3did anyone first read that as "colons" and not "coins"?
  • thesutex, on 11/18/2007, -2/+2nothing like reading the html code of a site.. skim between the and read the text works though :P
  • bratpack8, on 11/18/2007, -0/+4I don't think the government was the first to add ridges, but bankers, etc who were getting ripped off.
  • Calculon64, on 11/18/2007, -1/+1http://thegoldsupply.com/
  • MrFunions, on 11/18/2007, -0/+5Now the federal reserve acts as the coin clipper! They have the monopoly on clipping coins! But wait you say, don't we not like monopolies? No we don't like monopolies - but the Federal Reserve helps to "regulate" the economy. Hooray!!!
  • AlpineStars777, on 11/18/2007, -1/+1All you would have to do is compare it to another identical coin. duh.
  • evildeer, on 11/18/2007, -0/+3This may be historically true but the most important reason for the raised edge in current coinage is to reduce the wear on the impression and increase the circulation life of the coin. If the edge was missing then features of the picture on the coin would wear off as coins rubbed against each other in a pocketful of change.

    I recently visited the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa and they indicated during the tour that the raised edge increased the life of a coin from about 10 years to 25 years (if I remember the numbers correctly).
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