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Posted by: cmac on 2009-10-05,22:46:41
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. Putting the ridges there was Sir Issac Newton 's idea! Different edge types on coins is also a very simple yet effective method of making currency easier to use by the blind. All of the new Euro coins were designed specifically with this in mind!!~! |
