The Hidden History Behind Coin Ridges

A nerd moment warning! Sorry, but this one here was a gold mine when I first heard it. Do you ever think about why some coins, such as quarters and dimes, have those ridges along their edges? I mean, seriously, the next time you find yourself holding one, take a really close look at it. It’s not just for decoration. Nope. There’s a wild bit of history to it, in fact. Well, it just so happens that coin ridges are the products of old schemes, metal shenanigans and clever design.

Let’s dive in.

Why Coins — and Even Some Coins’ Edges — Have Ridges

Coins were once made of real precious metals, back in the day, as in the old-school, powdered-wig, revolutionary-era kind of “back in the day.” We’re talking about gold and silver, not this nickel-copper blend we use now. That’s because coins literally were worth the metal they were made of.

So what did a few clever (and sketchy) people do? They started “coin clipping.”

It sounds exactly like what it is. Folks would shave or clip little slivers of metal from the edges of the coins. Just a wee sliver here and there. Hardly noticeable. But do that enough times? Boom — suddenly you have a handful of stolen silver or gold shavings. It was sort of like discreetly counterfeiting, without actually creating fake coins. Genius… and totally illegal.

To prevent this sticky-fingered theft, mints began adding ridges — also called reeding — to the edges of coins. If a coin had such ridges, any tampering or clipping would be immediately evident. You can’t copy the ridged edge if you’ve shaved some metal off. It was 18th-century anti-theft tech.

Why Some Coins Are Still Ridged Today

Here’s the amusing part: While coins aren’t made from the precious metals of the past (unless you’re tunneling through piles of silver dollars minted before 1965), most of them still have that little ledge, on the edge. Why? Tradition, consistency, and a little bit of practicality.

For one thing, it makes it easier to feel the individual coins. That’s a nice touch for visually impaired people especially. You can even identify a dime from a nickel without looking, by feeling the edge.

It’s also a deterrent against modern counterfeiting. While people don’t clip coins anymore, coin reeding is still part of a wider security design. That said, it’s hard to produce perfect ridges without professional minting equipment.

Not All Coins Have Ridges — And That’s the Point

You might be asking, “Wait, so why do pennies and nickels have smooth edges?” Great question.

And the answer is pretty simple: those coins were just never that good to begin with, at least in the sense of being made of precious metals. No silver at all, and no gold — just plain old copper and nickel. So there was never a great deal of incentive to clip them anyway.

Today, the U.S. Mint carries on that design logic: coins that once contained silver (mostly dimes, quarters and half dollars) still have ridges, while others don’t.

Historical Coin Design Progresses Under Our Noses

Coins have never been only about money. They’re sort of these little historical snapshots. Every part of the note — from the size of the president’s face to the phrase “IN GOD WE TRUST” — is the product of design trends, cultural values and anti-counterfeiting needs.

Other than reeded edges, which are not the sole design elements added to inhibit such debasement, watermarks on paper money or holograms on credit cards are also based on the same principle: Make it glaringly obvious if someone’s trying to mess with it.

Through time, coin design has evolved from appearance and material-based tamper resistance to machine-readable tamper resistance. Actually, some current vending machines and banks have sensors that help “read” the ridges and determine authenticity. Wild, right?

And as digital forms of payment continue to take over, physical coin design is increasingly the province of tradition and usability, not security. Still, those little ridges are left behind — a discreet tip of the cap to those shady clippers of days gone by.

The next time somebody gives you a quarter, turn it on its edge and feel your thumb run over those ridges. So now you know: That small detail is a reaction to centuries of human greed and tricky thievery. What appear to be small design choices actually saved economies from collapse, and coins from ruination, by keeping them reliable and intact.

So yeah, mayhap there’s more to these coin ridges than some cool texture on which to nervously fidget. They’re evidence that even the slightest things can contain a whole lot of history.

Isn’t that kind of awesome?