Why do coins have reeds

The precious metals sector was confusing last week, with a mixed bag of performances and no clear pattern visible. Neither did platinum, while palladium managed to rise.

With the equities markets also rising quite strongly, propelled mostly by gains in defense […]. Once again there were disappointing results right across the precious metals sector last week, although the scale of losses varied.

Overall it was a worrying period, because metals managed to lose ground even though the equities markets fell heavily. Filed in: Informative. About the Author: goldeneaglecoin. November 20, at pm. Tocque V. If you gather up a bunch of coins, you'll see that not all reeded edges are created equal.

The number and size of reeds on coins is not dictated by law, so individual U. Mints were long free to make their reeds to their own in-house specifications, leading to distinct style differences between coins from different mints and eras. The dimes made by the Philadelphia Mint in those same years have thin, tightly-spaced reeds. Things are a little more standardized now and the Mint lists its reeding specifications as follows: dimes, ; quarters, ; half dollars, ; dollar, ; Susan B.

Anthony dollar, BY Matt Soniak. How do ridges prevent fraud? Wait, are people still clipping coins? Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile.

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List of Partners vendors. Featured Video. There are ridges or reeds on the edge of a quarter, on the dime and on the edge of the half dollar mostly now a collectible. The Coinage Act established the U. Cent and half-cent coins were made of cheaper copper.

Criminals saw that they could make a good profit by filing shavings from the sides of gold and silver coins, selling the precious metal. Before the 18th-century was out, the U. The reeded edges also made coin design more intricate and counterfeiting more difficult.