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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,193 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
Perhaps this is an old idea , but has anyone thought of using shape instead of size to distinguish the denomination of coins?
Our pocket change is a token issue so why does a quarter have to be bigger than a penny or smaller than a dollar?
I would love to see triangles, squares and ovals used instead of what we now have. Perhaps the half dollar could make a comeback if it was a pentagon shaped coin the size of a nickel.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2217 Posts |
"Perhaps this is an old idea , but has anyone thought of using shape instead of size to distinguish the denomination of coins?" Tut-tut... you Americans - we British thought of the idea a long time ago! Just look at our 50-pence! http://i16.tinypic.com/63sj6uu.jpgor even the beautiful 20-pence piece!! http://i9.tinypic.com/54barlh.jpgIt beggars belief that you never thought of this before...  I'm sorry I just had to be facetious there.. :P Of course, they are both heptagonal (7 sides) and the first pic, 50 pence piece, is a proof of a 1994 coin commemorating the D-day landings - this one is larger than the more modern 50-pence coins but the same basic shape. Edited by NumisMattyUk
05/29/2007 10:15 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
675 Posts |
I don't think that the SBA's are perfectly round, I think they are a bit more like an octagon or something like that. Of course, that is pretty close to round. I think it would be an interesting idea, but we in the US seem pretty resistant to different coins, (ie. dollar coins never circulating). It seems unlikely that a non-round coin would catch on, imo. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1952 Posts |
The SBA dollar is round. what makes you think it is octagon is the inside it is an allusion only. and is very round. Gary |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
675 Posts |
I was wondering about that as soon as I typed it. But I didn't want to head into the other room to get one, (lazy me  ). I knew there was some sort of octagon with it. Thanks for setting me straight Gary.  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5362 Posts |
NumisMattyUk - I agree that the British coin shapes are more interesting than the US coins. I recently traveled to the Caribbean Islands and saw MANY super shapes. I think it was Bermuda that has a three sided three dollar coin. That is super. The odd shapes on most islands seem to work fine and there are NO REALLY LARGE coins which get bulky. Thundercoin - I agree there is a lot of foolish resistance to change in the US. The biggest foolishness is the dollar bill. Why don't we just stop like Canada did? You can't go to Canada and get a dollar bill anymore. Why? They don't make them. So why are we so concerned? I'll bet it is the paper manufacturing industry! They msut own a few congressmen. The Anthony Dollar is round - the visual trick is nice but it is no substitute.
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Valued Member
United States
499 Posts |
this is another change that would be fought vigorously by the vending machine lobby. It's hard enough trying to convince them to change things to accept the new dollar coins never mind different shapes!
Ziggy
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Moderator
 Australia
16816 Posts |
The "British Heptagon" was specifically designed with vending machines in mind - it's supposed to have the same diameter no matter which way to draw a line across it, making it able to roll cleanly, much cleaner than the dodecagonal (12-sided) 50 cent coin used here in Australia. Still, Aussie vending machines all take our 50¢ coins no worries.
Several countries have taken the road of different shapes for different denominations to the extreme - particularly ones where a large proportion of the population is functionally illiterate in the languages used on the coin. India and Swaziland are two that come to mind, where each denomination has (or had) it's own shape.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2217 Posts |
I never knew it had anything to do with slot machines. Why is it a 12-sided coin can't be designed with an ever-equal diameter?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
The key to the multi-sided coins that will work in vending machines is to have an odd number of sides, and the more sides the better.
With an odd number the point where two sides come together is always opposite a flat. With a n even number the points are opposite each other and the flats are likewise. And with the even side the distance across from point to point is considerable different than from flat to flat. With the odd number the distance across is the same. And the more sides you have the closer that distance approaches the diameter of a circle. which makes it easier for the coin to roll which is handy for vending machines with vertical slots. Britains 50 pence with seven sides is the smallest number of sidesyou can use and still get it to roll (but not well) If you go over 13 sides the coin starts to lose its visual appearance of being a multi-sided coin which negates the point of using shape to indicate denomination. (Even so coins can be found with sides for every number from 3 to 25.)
The inner rim on the Anthony dollar is not an octagon, it is eleven sided. It remains from an early idea to make the con multi-sided for ease of recognition by the blind. Th idea was eventually dropped but the eleven sided rim remained for the same purpose.
A higher odd number of sides has another advantage. Most multi-sided coins are NOT struck using multi-sided blanks. It is too difficult, especially for high speed coinage to try and make sure you can get the blank into the right position to drop into the sided collar. So a round planchet is used instead and the pressure of the strike causes the metal to expand out and fill the points. With a larger odd number since the diameter of the coin is closer to a circle, it is easier to get the metal to fill the points than it is on an even sided coin.
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,193 |
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Posted 05/29/2007 5:29 pm
