Ever wonder why some coins have ridges, while others do not?
The answer is surprisingly simple:
When coins where made of gold or silver, the value of the coin was based on the value of the metal in it. Thus, a $10 gold coin had $10 worth of gold in it.
Before ridges, thieves would file off the edges of the coins and make a slow but steady profit from passing on the slightly smaller coins, while collecting the rest.
To prevent this practice, the government began minting ridges into the edges of coins so that you can easily tell if a coin has been tampered with.
Though coins are no longer made of gold or silver, they still have ridges, because we’re accustomed to seeing them that way.
Now you know.
[Via: Big Site Of Amazing Facts]
[Photo Via: Clearly Ambiguous]
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