- Coin clipping
Coin clipping is the act of shaving off a small portion of a
precious metal coin forprofit . Over time the precious metal clippings would be saved up and melted into bullion.Up until the mid 20th century, coins were often made of
silver orgold , which were quite soft and prone to wear. This meant coins naturally got lighter (and thus less valuable) as they aged, so coins that had lost a small amount of silver would go unnoticed.Coin clipping was usually considered by the
law to be of a similar magnitude tocounterfeit ing, and was occasionallypunish ed by death.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 (a process attributed toIsaac Newton ). In most modern coins, the milling is purely decorative, or an aid to the blind to distinguish different denominations, as the metal is not intrinsically valuable.Modern coins are made of hard, cheap metals such as
steel ,copper or a copper-nickel alloy, reducing wear and removing the incentive to clip coins.External links
* [http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1304 The 1696 Recoinage]
* [http://www.usmint.gov/kids/index.cfm?fileContents=coinNews/funFacts.cfm&page=0 US Mint Fun Facts]
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