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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ewomack, post: 2228904, member: 15588&quot;]Coin clipping would at least get you the pillory, according to <i>Curious Punishments of Bygone Days </i>by Alice Morse Earle. Here&#039;s an excerpt:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>&quot;It would be impossible to enumerate the offences for which Englishmen were pilloried: among them were treason, sedition, arson, blasphemy,witch-craft, perjury, wife-beating, cheating, forestalling, forging, <b>coin-clipping</b>, tree-polling, gaming, dice-cogging, quarrelling, lying, libelling, slandering, threatening, conjuring, fortune-telling,&#039;prigging,&#039; drunkenness, impudence.&quot;</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Concerning forgery, the book has this to say: &quot;Coiners could for the second offense be branded on the cheek F. for forgery.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>A quick web search turned up some other information, such as this text about Edward I (to follow up from HammeredCoin&#039;s comments above) from <i>Jewish News (<a href="http://www.jewishnews.co.uk/edward-i-the-king-who-made-a-mint-from-the-jews/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.jewishnews.co.uk/edward-i-the-king-who-made-a-mint-from-the-jews/" rel="nofollow">The King who made a mint from the Jews</a></i>):</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>&#039;...Edward I launched a crackdown on the illegal practice of coin clipping, which involved shaving the rim of existing coins, melting the metal and then forging new coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>While many were arrested and consequently tried for coin clipping, the worst punishments of all were reserved for the Jews. In 1279, he ordered the arrest of all the heads of Jewish households in England and had around 300 of them executed.</p><p><br /></p><p>Gooch adds: “Undoubtedly coin clipping was rife in this time, because we have many examples of coins that were indeed chipped away at.</p><p><br /></p><p>“But it was not an exclusively Jewish crime and the punishments given were extremely disproportionate. While Christians would be imprisoned, Jews often faced the harshest punishment of death.”&#039;</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>The article (from 2013) also talks about a exhibit at the tower of London called &quot;Coins and Kings&quot; that discussed highlights of the Tower Mint&#039;s history. I need a plane to London in 2013, please![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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