Remember , back then the value of coins were tied to their weight in precious metals . As a result , ‘ heavy ’ coins tended to be hoarded , leaving only the clipped coins in circulation . ( Believe it or not , there ’ s a law for this phenomenon . It ’ s called Gresham ’ s law and it states “ bad money drives out good ”.)
Sometimes clippings were mixed with base metals and used to create counterfeits , another extremely pressing issue of the age . Even the most severe punishments , including the death penalty , appeared powerless to stop these criminal activities .
MILLED COINS
The development of ‘ milled ’ coinage enabled monetary authorities to hit back . Milled coins took their name from improved rolling mills capable of making consistently thick sheets of metal for blanks . But they are also strongly associated with the employment of the screw press in coin making .
Essentially , the screw press worked like a Roman olive or grape press . The die was pressed into the blank by means of a screw originally turned by mint workers , and ultimately by steam-power . The appearance of the resulting coins represented a marked improvement on their hammered predecessors .
THE COIN COLLAR
Playing no lesser part in the battle against clippers was the coin collar . A hardened ring with an aperture fractionally larger than the die , the collar surrounded the blank to prevent the outward flow of metal during the striking process .
Swiss-born Jean-Pierre Droz ( 1746 - 1823 ) is said to be the first person to have realised that the collar could be used as a third die . He developed a collar comprising six segments , each with raised lettering on its inner wall , which pressed against the edge of the blank as it was struck .
Decorated edges effectively stamped out clipping and counterfeiting . With these features coins were far harder to fake and easier to spot when clipped .
Harking back to the earlier era , edgelettering is one method that can be observed on modern coinage . More familiar , however , is the serrated edge , or reeded edge as it is known in the United States . On a modern coin press , a serrated collar imparts these grooves into the struck piece .
MODERN TRADITION
Today , the use of serrations is more of a tradition than a necessity . Often they are continuous ( as on 20c , 10c and 5c coins ), but you ’ ll also find examples of interrupted serrations , such as those on our $ 2 and $ 1 coins . Apart from the fact they look neat , these adornments are also said to fulfill a useful function on behalf of blind and visually impaired people , helping them to distinguish different coin denominations .
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FEATURE ARTICLE
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