Coin edge
The edge of the coin or the knurling is the edge of coins or medals . It is therefore part of a coin or medal. A distinction is made between a corrugated edge and a smooth edge. In the image field, the obverse and the lapel , the edge bar can usually be seen. When smooth edge is often a hallmarked signature attached, some with ornaments provided. This is less the case with the corrugated edge. The edge of the coin is and was mostly fluted or provided with writing, especially from ancient times to the Middle Ages, in order to protect high-quality gold and silver coins from illegal weight reduction (filing, cutting off) and other manipulations.
The smooth edge of some coins is notched by the embossing, e.g. B. with today's 20-cent coin. Notch can also be added to mark coins as invalid tender.
The edge of the coin can include:
- Edge circle (usually a pearl circle inside in front of the edge rod),
- Edge bar (the thickening on the outside of the coin),
- Border decoration and border writing ,
- Corrugated or notched burn.
The functions of the coin rim and the rim design are:
- Reduction of the risk of circumcision or filing (especially with gold or silver coins),
- Increase in the aesthetics of the coin (e.g. through decoration),
- Strengthening stability, especially against breakage,
- Improvement of the standardization of dimensions and weight,
- Improvement of stackability,
- Function as information carrier (marginal letters),
- Enabling machine suitability,
- Improvement of the distinguishability of nominal values (e.g. by corrugation) when touching.
The oldest covered coins with an edge design date from 1684 and came from Clausthal .
Examples
- Previous marginal writings on the German euro commemorative coins
- The marginal inscriptions of the commemorative coins of the Federal Republic of Germany (DM)
- Some commemorative coins of the GDR also had marginal writing