Interesting question, Cynthia. I will ponder this while I am away today. Will check back sometime in the late afternoon.

Sorry that your allergy med has kept you up. Mine make me sleepy throughout the day so I avoid them as long as possible and keep the bedroom window closed during the night which helps me sleep without them.

Insomnia is the pits. The more you try, the less you sleep. Sorry you've had such a bad night, Cynthia. As you say, lesson learned.

I actually know the answer to this one, so I'll be checking back to see how Nancy and Bobbie are doing.

Meanwhile, remember little ditties like this?

In this vale
Of toil
And sin
Your head
Grows bald
But not your chin.

TM

lol- thanks for the earworm, TM!! I used to be a numismatist, so I am pretty sure I know the answer too. It is a grey rainy morning here, still feels like dawn, so I am feeling my way along!

Nancy.

Haha, TM. Apropos ditty-just noticed my part seems wider than it used to be. So not fair.

Aw, sorry you two. Guess I will need to pull Bobbie along if your ditty doesn't help. Of course, I was all set for a clue to the same word. I will try to weigh in in a bit with another clue. Thinking, thinking. Feel free to jump in here folks! Don't want her feeling short-changed when I hand out stars!

Cynthia

btw Cyn. Our coins have ridges, or reeding as it is known. I think. Most coins worldwide do, including Euros. Paper money, or now plastic money, perhaps(?) have something like that for a similar reason.

Nancy - who might be showing off, and may fall big-time!

Oh, I meant sorry that I gave you such an easy question today!

Cynthia

btw Cyn. Our coins have ridges, or reeding as it is known. I think. Most coins worldwide do, including Euros. Paper money, or now plastic money, perhaps(?) have something like that for a similar reason.

Nancy - who might be showing off, and may fall big-time!

We are home and I read the ditty but am still coinfused.

My first thought was that it had to have something to do with the feel of the coin but who carries around smooth blank pieces of metal? I note that nickles and pennies do not have ridges. To differentiate between values? Hmm, size would do that better. To cut costs?

Need more pulling, Cynthia.

Aaaahhh, rain. Worth more than its weight in gold and silver. I have been so envious of all of you who have been getting it while our ground is dry as a bone and cracking. Clouds of dust fly up when the dogs are running and wrestling in what has become a dog park. I watered all morning, of course, and now it is coming down in a steady, drenching way. Yippee. I should have an easy time planting tomorrow.Now, if I could just skim off a little to save for the next dry spell. Sigh. I really should get several rain barrels.

Cynthia

Skim off a little to save, Sounds like a clue!

To save money on producing the larger value coins made with more precious and expensive metals.

Warmer, Bobbie, but not so the government could save money. maybe I should have gone with the 'shave off a little' idea.

Was perusing Craig's List the other day. Don't you just hate when things are not what they are purported to be just because someone thinks he/she can get away with altering the original?

Cynthia

DH has suggested it might make counterfeiting harder but I can not see how a counterfeiter couldn't make the ridges even easier than the other details.

From the "History" website "would-be criminals saw they could make a good profit by filing shavings from the sides of gold and silver coins and selling the precious metal. Before the 18th-century was out, the U.S. Mint began adding ridges to the coinsâ edges, a process called âÂÂreeding,â in order to make it impossible to shave them down without the result being obvious. As a side benefit, the reeded edges also made coin design more intricate and counterfeiting more difficult.

The U.S. Mint stopped producing all gold coins during the Great Depression, thanks to an executive order from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and a silver crisis in the 1960s led that metal to be gradually phased out as well. TodayâÂÂs coins contain no precious metals��"but youâÂÂll still find those ridges, at least on half-dollars, quarters, dimes and some dollar coins. Aside from keeping up with tradition, the ridges also help make the coins distinguishable from each other by feel as well as appearance, enabling visually impaired people to tell the difference between similarly sized coins, like the dime and penny. So while coins made from precious metals may be history, it seems reeding is here to stay."

So four stars for all of you. I was going for the shaving off of the gold and silver, but you (your DH?) get points too, Bobbie, for the counterfeiting answer.

Thanks for playing! Have a wonderful week!

Cynthia

Thanks, Cynthia. It's still a fun question and answer, even though I did happen to know it already. That doesn't happen very often!

TM

Ha,ha, you are way too generous, Cynthia.

Amazing that people would think about shaving off some of the gold or silver. I wonder how many coins one would need shave to get enough to sell?