"Why Do" Wednesday - Why Do Coins Have Ridges?

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So who doesn't like money?  We use it every day, although nowadays I think I mainly just use my debit card.  Very rarely do have actual cash.  But we all like a little jingle in our pockets.  And with that jingle, have you ever wondered why some coins have ridges on the edge and some are smooth?  Well there is a reason and answer!




Let me start out by saying that except for a few coins, today the ridges really aren't needed.  So why have them?  Well it was to keep people honest back in the day.  Back in 1792 the Coinage Act established the US mint.  Along with that they specified coin values and materials they were to be made from.  Back then coins were  made at face value in a specific precious metal.  That also is the reason coins come in varying sizes.  They were literally their weight in gold and silver.  That's great right?  Wrong! They soon learned people were schemey (don't think that's a real word, but I will use it anyway!).




Would be criminals would shave some precious metal from the edges of the coins and soon after enough coin shavings could get enough to make it worth their while.  And that is how the ridges came about.  By adding ridges to the edge of the coins people couldn't shave off  metal or it would be obvious they had done so.  Now days coins are made from nickel and copper, so I don't think the shavings would do you much good unless you had a truck load of coins and enough time...



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Credit: https://www.history.com/news/why-do-coins-have-ridges 

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