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Message:: [QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 2949791, member: 112"]The idea of putting reeding or some other design onto the edge of a coin goes back to 1643 when it was first invented by the Royal Mint of France. It was done to prevent an all too common practice of the times known as clipping which was a process where some of the metal was shaved, clipped, or cut off the edge of a coin. And then saved to be sold later by the one doing the clipping. An since most coins were silver and gold back then it was a very profitable practice. The old edge dies looked much different and came in various designs, but the principle was always the same, and in fact it still is today. It was usually done after the coin had already been struck, but it could be done prior to striking as well. In simple terms the edge of the coin, or planchet, was placed into the edge die and then merely rolled along and through it while pressure was being applied to the opposite edge. Centuries ago edge dies like those used on the Spanish reales were typically a straight perpendicular groove at the outer edge of a flat table and the coin was rolled through it. Today edge dies, and yes some mints still use them, can be straight and or curved. This for example is an edge die used by the US Mint on our modern dollar coins. And they are bit bigger than one might think, over a foot long. [ATTACH=full]720289[/ATTACH] Typically they are only used in today's world when lettering is desired on the edge of a coin as opposed to reeding. It is simply easier to put letters on the edge of coin this way than it is with collars. But when reeding is desired, even though there is no longer any use or need for it per se, the collar system is employed because it is so much faster and cheaper to do it that way.[/QUOTE]

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