The Why of Ridged Coins

Articles on this blog are often about the why of things. For example, I was sorting coins that I had gathered in a jar and wondered why of the four coins that are in wide circulation in the United States today, the dime and the quarter have a ridged edge, and the penny and nickel are smooth. 

According to the U.S. Mint, those ridges are technically called a reeded edge. Is this a decorative or practical difference? But is the reeded edge purely decorative, or does it serve a purpose? 

As a kid, I'm sure someone told me is was so that blind people could distinguish coins, but I found no evidence of that being a reason, though it certainly might be a use for the ridges.

When the U.S. Mint opened in Philadelphia in 1793, the coins it produced were made of copper, silver, and gold, in accordance with the Coinage Act of 1792. Because coins of this era were made of precious metal, they were vulnerable to a practice known as clipping, which involved cutting off a small portion around the circumference of the coins. A skilled clipper would shave off enough from the coins to eventually amass a quantity of scrap metal worth cashing in, while also ensuring that the coins weren’t conspicuously reduced in size or weight, allowing the altered coins to still be spent.

Clipping had been common in 17th-century Europe, and it was so prevalent in England that by the end of that century, almost half of the silver content was absent from circulating English coins. This resulted in the metal composition of the coins being lower than their face value, a discrepancy that threatened to create a financial crisis throughout the continent, as well as in the European colonies. In order to combat the practice, England began minting coins with ridged edges; a smooth edge on any part of a coin would then be a telltale sign of clipping. When the United States was founded as an independent nation, the U.S. Mint followed suit by designing its higher denomination coins with reeded edges right from the beginning.

Since today's coins are not made with precious metals, the practice is a vestige of a past practice. Today’s U.S. circulating coins are mostly “clad” coins — a copper core sandwiched between other metal layers — except for the nickel. The Mint switched to clad coins as silver and gold got too expensive. The 1970 half dollar was the last circulating coin with silver. There are collector versions of dimes, quarters, and half dollars that are still made in 99% silver, but those aren’t for everyday use. On the edge of a quarter or dime, if you see a reddish line, it is the copper core peeking out. The nickel is the oddball since it is a solid alloy with no layers.

Clink Glasses - Cheers!

I wrote recently on my origins blog about why "toast" is not only that heated bread but also what we do when we drink to the health or in honor of (someone or something) by raising one's glass together with others. As a corollary to that, I wondered why we also might clink glasses together after a toast before we take a sip.

The toasting of someone’s health is an ancient ritual, rooted in Greek and Roman drinking culture and quite likely long before. These ancient civilizations may have also knocked their mugs and cups together and the more delicate clink likely became fashionable in the 17th century. Here are 3 origin stories.

The most common origin story I found seems unlikely. In medieval times, clinking cups or glasses hard enough would cause liquid to slosh and spill from one vessel into another, so if your drinking companion had poisoned your cup, they’d be consuming poison too. This seems like a petty weak way of preventing drinks from being spiked. Yes, belladonna, hemlock, arsenic, mercury, or any other common toxin were popular ways of eliminating one’s rivals in the Middle Ages, especially among the nobility, but that origin is very doubtful.

An alternative theory, of no precise origin, suggests that clinking glasses was meant to frighten away evil spirits. In medieval Europe, there was a superstitious belief that evil spirits lurked in alcohol or hovered around celebrations. The high-pitched sound of touching glasses, according to the theory, would chase them away. This sounds possible, but I found no evidence to support it being the sole, or even partial, origin of this toast ritual. 

How about another theory that suggests the practice was a way to complete the sensory experience of drinking? Sipping wine and toasting already involved sight, touch, smell, and taste — and the clink added sound, the last of the five senses. Historian Margaret Visser argues that clinking grew in popularity during the 17th century, when Venetian glassmakers perfected the art of clear, resonant crystal. For the first time, drinking vessels produced a beautiful ringing tone when struck together, and that sensory pleasure became part of the ritual.

Leonardo da Vinci - so much undone

It’s the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, born Lionardo di ser Piero da Vinci, in Vinci, Italy (1452). 

He’s best known for his Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, two of the most famous paintings in the world, but he left fewer than 30 paintings when he died, and most of those were unfinished. 

He was a perfectionist and procrastinator, having worked on the Mona Lisa on and off for the last 15 years of his life. The Last Supper was likely only finished because his patron threatened to cut off his money. Today, he would be described as having attention deficit disorder.

He spent much of his time drawing up plans for inventions like the submarine, the helicopter, the armored tank, and even the alarm clock, none of which came to fruition in his lifetime. He also created very detailed anatomical drawings from life and cadavers to understand how to draw and pain the human form.

Remaining today are at least 6,000 pages of his drawings and notes on everything from astronomy to anatomy — mostly written backward, decipherable only in a mirror. 

Despite being easily distracted by other interests, he accomplished a lot. I find it sad that when he was dying, he apologized “to God and Man for leaving so much undone.”

Leonardo's drawings

Biography by Isaacson

Did Magellan Circumnavigate the Globe?

For more than 500 years, Ferdinand Magellan has been famous for being the first person to circumnavigate the globe. 

Ferdinand Magellan did not actually circumnavigate the globe. 

What did he do?

On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain, with five ships and a crew of about 260 men. His mission? Find a "backdoor" route to the East Indies (modern-day Indonesia). He was ambitious, determined, and—to be frank—a bit of a handful. Fast forward two years, and the expedition had reached Mactan Island in the Philippines. Magellan was roughly three-quarters of the way through his epic journey, but this is where the map ended for him. 

Magellan wasn't just exploring; he was also trying to spread Christianity. This didn't sit particularly well with the Indigenous peoples of Mactan. After a skirmish broke out on April 27, 1521, Magellan was struck by a poison arrow and killed. He died thousands of miles away from the finish line, leaving his dwindling crew to figure out how to get home without their leader. 

If you think your last long-haul flight was rough, consider the stats of this expedition:
Starting Crew: ~260 sailors
Total Ships: 5
Duration: 3 years
Survivors who made it home: 18 

On September 9, 1522, only 18 men limped back into Sanlúcar de Barrameda on a single ship. That’s a survival rate of about 7%. 

Victoria, the sole ship of Magellan's fleet to complete the circumnavigation.
Detail from a map by Ortelius, 1590.

If Magellan didn't make it, who was the actual first person to circle the globe? The answer depends on how you define "first." 

Juan Sebastián Elcano, after Magellan’s death, took command and navigated the final stretch back to Spain. He is the man historians usually point to if you're looking for the person who completed the full, continuous loop on one trip. 

Enrique of Malacca is an interesting contender. he was a Malay man that Magellan had captured and enslaved in the East Indies back in 1511. Enrique traveled from the East Indies to Europe, then accompanied Magellan on the 1519 expedition heading west. By the time the ships reached the Philippines, Enrique was essentially back in his home region. If he managed to slip away and make it back to Malacca after Magellan’s death, he would technically be the first person to complete a full circle of the planet, though in two separate stages. 

The first circumnavigation was less of a solo victory and more of a brutal, three-year survival horror story. Whether you give the "win" to the captain who finished the job or the enslaved interpreter who may have beaten everyone to the punch, one thing is true. Magellan really started it.