this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2025
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Isaac Newton was the Master of the Mint. Back then, issues with counterfeiting or diluting the coinage was an issue. He personally went in disguise to bars to track down these counterfeiters. Who were then executed.
He is also the inventor of all the ridges around the edge of coins, because at the time it made coins almost impossible to forge.
They added ridges so that the circumference couldn't be shaved off and melted into more coins
Back then, the point of the coins was to represent that they contained a certain weight of metal, without forcing people to weigh them out all the time.
From what I've heard, the position was given to him as a sinecure — but Newton, being Newton, took it seriously.
Land of the free lol
Britain's Royal Mint of course. The US didn't exist in the 17ᵗʰ century and the US Mint got created 90 years after this.
Shit, you're right. I was conflating Isaac Newton with the kite-zappy guy with the fart fetish. I'll leave the original post unedited as a testament to my biggotry.
yes. Isaac Newton, the famous American