In reference to an earlier thread: why were square coins ever made? Have there ever been rectangular (not square) coins? My grandma got a rectangular copper (colored) token copy of a US$50 bill for free in the mail. (aprox 1¼ x ½ in /12 x 30 mm) It was some unsolicited gift from an insurance company or some other company.
Many shapes of coins have been made if you get right down to it. One may just as well ask why are coins round? Extrapolating here - but in earlier times if one had a sheet of metal with which to make coins in multiples square, rectangular or even hexogonal would be more efficient. Hexagons have worked for bees forever.
Most square and rectangular coins were produced in times of emergency, like when a city was besieged and needed some "interim" means of payment. Such a coin is usually called a "klippe" - probaby a word of Swedish origin, referring to the "clipping" or cutting of the coins. Sometimes the entire surface was designed, sometimes round stamps were used. http://www.lvosl.de/lvosl/eigenprojekte/muenzuebergabe_klippe.jpg Another type of rectangular "coins" is the Swedish plåtmynt (plate money) - those were big and heavy copper pieces, up to roughly 30 x 60 cm ... Here http://www.geocities.com/scottishmoney/sweden/swedish.html are some of those beasts. Christian
Depends on whether you want the entire surface of a coin to be designed or not. If yes, the round shape works best because the pressure (of a hammer/stamp) can be applied equally. With a square stamp that would be harder to do. Now with modern minting technology that does of course not make a difference any more. Also, rectangular coins might have invited people (in the case of precious metal pieces) to file off parts of a piece. Round coins, especially those with milled edges, would make that more difficult. And then, a coin with four sharp "corners" would probably damage your bag or pocket. So you would either make those corners less sharp, or use more than four edge sides ... Christian
round with good reason It seems to me round has myriad advantages. No matter which way you rotate, only one way to stack. Each size only fits through one sized hole. Won't jam in things. Any of the same reasons for having round Manholes. (click for wikipedia article about manhole-roundness)
Just a curiosity : that manhole picture comes from Seville (Spain). More information about that symbol : http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/NO8DO I tried a translation to English with Babelfish but it can't make it easy to understand the word game.
Sometimes square (with rounded corners) and other odd shapes were used so that the largely illiterate population using them could tell the different denominations apart Usually coins would be differentiated by size and color but if two coins of the same metal would be of similar size (close enough that comparison might be needed) then the size of one may be radically altered by increasing the size and having it holed or by making the coin multi-sided or scalloped.
Thanks Thank you for a real answer. It just seams square coins would cause a lot of damage to various things. Probably less of a problem before the advent of so much machinery with the industrial revolution. Gracias, de nuevo, izotz. Thanks again izotz. The photo I used is on Wikimedia. I was trying to find a photo from Wikipedia that was small and clear. I have read about the motto No me ha dejado antes en Wikipedia. Here is a link to the Wikipedia explanation in ENGLISH of the yarn symbol on the manhole cover. (the shape that looks like the no. 8) Basically the Spanish for skein of yarn is madeja de hilo, so NO-8-DO reads as: "No m'a dejado," which is how the setance, "No me ha dejado," can come out when said by a southern-Spainiard. It means: "She (he/it) has not abandoned me." The city is famous for it's unwavering support of a certain King of Spain. The King in Kuestion is supposed to have said, "She [the city] has never abandoned me." The trouble is, they can't remember which king said it. (See the wikipedia article for more details.) ~
