In the thread "Is this 8 Reales real?" moderator GDJSMP took a shortcut. Writing about clipping, he said: "This was a common practice used by those trying to cheat the monetary system. Cut small pieces from the edges of the coins, save the silver or gold cut off - and spend the coin for full value." You can find out more about this from any standard book or authoritative article about the history of money or the history of coins, for instance, The International Encyclopedic Dictionary of Numismatics by R. Scott Carlton. Krause, 1996. One problem with shortcuts is that you miss the scenic route. Another problem is that you can get lost. In my old neighborhood, if I took a shortcut through an alley, I could get beaten up by a bully. So, I do not take shortcuts. I agree that coins were clipped. I agree that milling the edges just about ended the practice. There is much more to it than that. 1. Clipping was a serious problem with British silver pennies. Clipping was not a problem with British gold. The reason why is that legally, a penny was a penny was a penny, but legally, gold coins were accepted by weight. So, the root of the problem was not that crooked dishonest cheating swindlers hoodwinked other people. The source of the problem was that the British crown passed a law that contradicted a law of economics, i.e., a law of nature. People just adapted to an untenable situation. 2. The "value" of silver relative to gold or wheat or apples or whatever is always in flux. This is another natural law. So, a pennyweight of silver might have been convenient at some time and place, but could not be expected to be equally convenient for all times and places. People adjusted the sizes of coins to meet the realities of the markets. This was especially necessary in markets without convenient ways to make change. 2a. The "farthing" is a "fourthing" the cutting of a penny into quarters. So, how do you make one-fifth? 3. Silver became increasingly valuable. All through the Middle Ages, people in Europe exported silver to the East in exchange for silk, spices, etc. The people in the Orient had much less demand for English wools and beers. The so-called "balance of trade" (another shortcut, really) caused an outflow of silver. Therefore, the penny had to get smaller somehow. 4. Clipping was accepted. If people did not want to accept a clipped coin, they could have avoided it -- even if they had to resort to some subterfuge to get around the king's laws. (For an analogy, why do we tolerate stupid pricing like $9.95 or $19.99, when an even $10 or $20 would make everyone's life simpler? Argue that as you will, the fact is that this is our custom. So, too, was clipping theirs.) 5. Very few ancient Greek and Roman coins show any evidence of clipping. Why not? Cheats were known. See Michael H. Crawford, Plated coins - False coins, in Numismatic chronicle ser. 7, v. 8 (1968), p. 55-59, pl. 14. See, also, my article on "Copper Owls" on Coin Newbies: www.coin-newbies.com/articles/msns_owls.pdf Clipping was not an ancient custom. Coins circulated by weight. Once detected, a clipped coin would have been accepted for less than full value and then likely have been turned back into bullion. It was not the custom in ancient Greece and Rome to accept clipped coins. It was the custom in medieval Europe. 6. The coin in question is a "cob." it is typical of Spain's New World mints. Silver was rolled into a cylinder and the cylinder was sliced into a coin-sized disk. The disk was struck by hand. This left an irregular circular shape. This method continued into the 18th century when milled coinage finally replaced it. To my knowledge, clipped cobs are not common. The reasons why are listed above for the English penny. Most of the Spanish silver had been mortgaged before it arrived, so little of it actually passed on the streets or in the taverns -- where it would have been inconveniently large anyway. Clipping was necessary and important. It was the mechanism by which people reacted to an irrational law. It was the mechanism by which people adjusted their money to the realities of the marketplace. (Clipping was also done by cheats.) Suppose that for whatever reasons, clipping had remained necessary despite the milling of coin edges. People would have only clipped the coins and then remilled the edges. They did not. A. For one thing, change was possible with a wide range of circulating coins in silver and copper, all more or less interchangible. (In America, this included Spanish "fips" or "pistareens" and "bits" a system of fifths and eighths overlaid on our quarters and tenths.) B. For another thing, while the relative values of gold and silver fluctuated in the short term -- causing some grief in the USA -- silver became less and less valuable over time. By the late 1800s, the federal government was subsidizing silver mining and silver was an inflationary currency, dragging down the so-called "gold standard." This happened also to the Latin Monetary Union which had to lean on Italy to stop issuing megatons of cheap silver nominally exchangible for good Swiss and French gold. So, with money being worth "less" and with prosperity generally rising, clipping and remilling was not economically effective.
Geeeez Mike - I almost think I prefered the shortcut Seriously though - an excellent explanation One comment about cobs though - when the piece was sliced off the cylinder it was weighed. To get it to the proper weight - the piece was clipped - right at the mint. This helped to create the many irregular shapes with cob coins. Now I cannot speak authoritatively as to whether or not cobs were clipped after leaving the mint - but I suspect they were as much as any other coin. Their very nature, the shape of the coins, added to the ease for doing this without the coin being as suspect as a round coin with irregular edges. But it is simple to determine by weighing the coins for the Spaniards were quite particular when it came to the weight of their coins. As a general rule they were very consistent.
Sometimes,the British added metal to the cut coins (especially the gold Johannes) for circulation in the West Indies. Aidan.
I think also That British hammered coins were sometimes clipped at the mint as well and with later Milled Coins like Sovereigns and sometimes Crowns people would sweat the coin, thats a process where they took the coins in a bag shook the bag around and collected the gold dust or silver dust.
Henry I pennies were all give test cuts at the mint. Henry I was perplexed by the fact that people wouldn't accept coins with test cuts in, it showed the traders that the coin was genuine did it not, so what was their problem? Henry being of a certain mind was not best pleased that people weren't accepting his currency, so he threfore ordered that it should all be cut before it left the mint, the people would either have to like it or lump it. It worked, people soon accepted test cut coins! Michael was 'tecnically' incorrect when he said that British gold coins were not clipped. Firstly because some English hammered gold coins do show clipping of all varying degrees. Secondly however, and this is the reason why i put 'technically' in '', English gold guineas were frequently filed. In the 18th century guinea filers were prolific. So much so that the lettering was put closer to the edge to stop the practice, it had some success but the real solution came when they altered the edge milling from diagonal to chevron. Previously people had filed the coin down till the legends were at the edge and then they reapplied the milling. The gold coinage may have been based on weight but the weight of the guineas varies between issues, so all they had to do was pick a slightly heavier issue and reduce it in weight to the bottom end of the acceptable weights, be it a mere fifth of a gram or so, taking into account wear you could get a bit more. 1733 coins were always 10 to 12 grains light remarked one Rev. Vallavine in 1738.
