Pictured above are the four most common U.S. coins — from top to bottom, a dime, penny, nickel, and finally, a quarter — seen from their edges. You’ll note that the edge of both the dime and quarter have ridges, little grooves running perpendicular to the coin face. The penny and nickel, though, have a smooth edge. This is something you’ve probably noticed before if you handle American coins regularly, but like many design choices, probably not one you gave a second thought.
The Coin Act 1575 also abolished (for coin clipping only) the penalties of corruption of blood and forfeiture of goods and lands. Deposited around c.470 as the kingdom of Sussex was being established, the Patching hoard of coins represents the earliest early mediaeval coins found in Britain. Clipping is the act of shaving off a small portion of a precious metal coin for profit. Over time, the precious metal clippings could be saved up and melted into bullion or used to make new coins. Definition of Coin clipping. Shaving down of pennies and other silver coins to reduce their value. This was a serious problem in a metals-based economy, resulting in heavy penalties, including hanging. Coin clip art images Public domain vectors - download vector images, svg cut files and graphics free of copyright. You can use our images for unlimited commercial purpose without asking permission. The best place to get custom coins, geocoins, lapel pins, and patches made. If you want quality, we have it. We offer the most options, sharpest image quality, durable finishes, and vibrant colors.
You can thank Sir Isaac Newton for them.
Newton is most famous as a scholar. His work as a physicist — articulating rules around gravity, force, motion, inertia, etc. — is his claim to fame. But toward the end of his career, he found himself in a less academic job. In 1696, Newton was tapped as the Warden of the Royal Mint, and three years later, was elevated to Master of the Royal Mint. These positions were, typically, considered ceremonial government honors for those citizens who had already aspired to greatness — not roles with real responsibilities. But Newton, seeing that the UK had a massive counterfeit coin problem, took the role seriously.
The problems began with something called “coin clipping.” For centuries, coins were made of precious metals — gold and silver, often — and therefore, had intrinsic value beyond their stated denominations. You could shave a bit off the edge of a coin, keep the clipped-off piece for yourself, and use the almost-complete coin in a subsequent transaction. From pass to pass, the coin’s change in size and shape would hardly be noticeable. But in time, it became obvious. Here’s a screenshot from Wikipedia of three otherwise similar coins dating back to the 4th or 5th century, showing the effect of coin clipping.
Over time, you’d end up with coins which merchants would understandably be quick to reject. But the problem was even worse than that. HowStuffWorks explains:
The average bag of English coins was just a hodgepodge of damaged and unrecognizable silver chunks. As such, forgers had a field day. Since English coins varied so widely in size and quality, it was easy to pass off even the most sloppy knockoffs as legal tender. Riots broke out as faith in the English currency plummeted.
Coin Clipping
And that’s the situation in which Newton found himself as the 1600s came to a close: coin clipping had created a culture of counterfeiting. Curtail coin clipping and you’d stem the tide.
Coin Clipping Probability
The ridges — or, the “reeded edge” as it is sometimes called — were part of the solution, at least going forward. By adding an identifiable feature to the edges, clippers could no longer remove part the coins subtly. Anyone receiving the clipped coin would, nearly instantly, know that it was manipulated. It’s an innovation which, per Mental Floss, carried over into the U.S. and other nations as well.
So, why do the penny and nickel not have this security feature? As they weren’t minted from precious metals, they were never worth clipping. While quarters and dimes were, at times, made from silver, the smaller-denomination coins have generally had a melt value too small to warrant tinkering with their edges. Today, that’s true for dimes and quarters as well; the reeded edges they’re adorned with are, in that sense, antiquated.
Coin Clipping Roman Empire
Bonus fact: In the late 1200s, coin clipping was used as the pretext for a rarely told incident of government-driven anti-Semitism. Clipping was very common at the time, with people of all backgrounds participating in the fraud, but a British crackdown targeted Jewish families. Haaretz explains: “On November 17, 1278, all the Jews of England were subjected to arrest and search of their homes on suspicion of coin clipping and counterfeiting. Eventually, some 680 were imprisoned in the Tower of London, where it is believed that more than 300 were actually executed in 1279. At the time, the Jewish population of England is believed to have been some 3,000.” By 1290, almost all Jews were expelled from Britain.
From the Archives: Collecting Dust, Not Interest: The sad state of America’s $1 President coins.
What Is Coin Clipping
Related: “The Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection, 2nd Edition.” It’s “official” because it’s a publication of the “Professional Coin Grading Service,” which I’m surprised to learn exists.
Coin Clipping
- Six hundred Jews were imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1278, charged with coin clipping.…
- Monetary crimes were particularly severely punished, and coin clipping and counterfeiting could be punishable by death.…
- Originally the mandatory sentence for a man convicted of high treason (other than counterfeiting or coin clipping) was hanging, drawing and quartering.…
- Historically, milling also served to discourage coin clipping.…
- The huge number of clipped coins in the Hoxne Hoard has made it possible for archaeologists to observe the process of coin-clipping in detail.…
- At the time, coin clipping was a widespread practice, which both Jews and Christians were involved in, and a financial crisis resulted, and according to one contemporary source, the practice reduced the currency's value to half of its face value.…
- In 1275, coin clipping was made a capital offence, and in 1278, raids on suspected coin clippers were carried out.…
- The Coin Act 1575 also abolished (for coin clipping only) the penalties of corruption of blood and forfeiture of goods and lands.
- The hoard includes five imported siliquae that had not been clipped, so coin-clipping had probably ceased by then, although the coinage had probably collapsed decades earlier than this, after Roman rule in Britain collapsed.…
- Some resorted to highway robbery; others joined the Domus Conversorum; while a considerable number appear to have resorted to coin clipping as a means of securing a precarious existence.…
- Coin clipping was usually considered by the law to be of a similar magnitude to counterfeiting, and was occasionally punished by death, a fate which befell Thomas Rogers and Anne Rogers.…
- Coin clipping is why many coins have the rim of the coin marked with stripes (milling or reeding), text (engraving) or some other pattern that would be destroyed if the coin were clipped.…