Beads and dentillations on coins

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Bahamas, 10 and 15 cents coins, 1975, after independence.

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The newer versions are without bead circles.

See: Coinage of the Bahamas.

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Colombia, 20 pesos, 2004.

Here the denticles are slanted at an angle. There are no beads or denticles on the obverse.

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Coins that have different types of beads or denticles on each side are interesting. This 5 sucres from Ecuador has denticles on the obverse, but the reverse has neither denticles nor beads.

Meanwhile, the 50 sucres has beads on the reverse that are more spaced out than the denticles on the obverse and are also further from the rim. Both coins use braille, but I am told that blind people do not check the rim of a coin - they check the size, shape, weight, and edge type - smooth, milled, security edge, alternately milled and smooth, etc.

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These coins of Georgia from 2006 have very different treatments of the area near the rim on the obverse and the reverse.

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This Philippines set has beads on one side but not on the other.

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This Philippines set has little stars - not beads - on one side but not on the other.

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All the coins of the latest Sao Tome series (issued 2017) have denticles on the reverse but not on the obverse. Below are two of these coins.

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Kazakhstan, 1993.  Beads and no beads. This seems to be more common that I realised.

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Note: these coins are not to scale - they are each of a different size.


Singapore, 2013. The only coin with beads is the 50 cents, but these occur on the reverse only. Why this single exception?

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Macao / Macau 1999 set. The coins had beads only on the reverse. Where the coin was polygonal, the beads followed the coin's shape.

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The previous set of Macao / Macau had beads on both sides. Where the coin was polygonal, the beads followed the coin's shape.

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I ask the question now: do you think beads and denticles are necessary? My country, the UK, used them for long enough, but the new design series since 2008 has none. This gives the designs a cleaner look, I think. Do you agree?

[Deeman]

Generally, I consider the use of beads and denticles on the obverse to be unnecessary.
Their inclusion on the reverse, to my mind, is dependent on complexity of design.
Minimal designs benefit from their added decoration value.
 

[Figleaf]

The outer ring is a holdover from the times when coins were clipped. Such coins had an inner ring also. Their function was to see at a glance how badly the coin was clipped. A complete outer ring was an indication that the coin might be too heavy. An incomplete inner ring meant the coin was clipped too much and should be refused/returned to the mint. Clipped coins are easiest to recognise because they look centrally struck. In fact, clippers sheared off parts that would stick out of the outer ring first or tried to leave the inner ring intact for as long as possible.

These rings have of course lost their technical function, so that they are now a design element only, subject to considerations such as how busy the design is and how traditionalist the sponsors (government, minister, committee etc.) are.

Peter