Are reeded edges still necessary on U.S. coins??

sliderider

The thought occurred to me recently that the reason reeded edges were put on coins was so that you could tell if any of the gold or silver had been removed by shaving it off the edges. Since there is no more gold or silver in our circulating coinage, can the mint eliminate the step of reeding the edges and save a little money?

RKKay

At least for dimes, they are helpful for blind people in distinguinshing the dime from a cent.

100proof1957

Im sure blind people still depend on the reeding somewhat.

chuckfarthing

Probably, although I'm sure organizations representing the blind might have a cow. Not sure how much they rely on the reeded edge to differentiate between denominations.

richbeat

That's it. To help visually impaired, and blind people distinguish between the denominations. The only "problem" might be between the cent and the nickel, since both have smooth edges.

Conder101

<< <i>can the mint eliminate the step of reeding the edges and save a little money? >>


Believe it or not it is probably, it is probably cheaper to cut the reeded collars than it is to grind and polish the smooth edge collars (Since the reeded collars don't require as much finishing work.) In which case it would save the mint money to add reeded edges to the cent, nickel, and dollar.

ms70

They should start using denticles again on some new designs.