Hi all,

My walking liberties are pretty smooth and slippery on the edges by now and I'm finding it harder to manipulate the coins as such. I'd like to put the grooves on the coins for better grip but I don't want to send away to Lassen or anything.

How can I put edges or grooves in my coins for better handling?

Milling, milling... a small file/saw or better yet someone with a milling machine.

Not an emergency call for Todd Lassen, yet perhaps Jim Riser could help.

My favorite moment with Mutobe-san was when he asked if I knew how many grooves were on the edge of his half-dollars. He then told me the exact number because he had put them there himself. That is the work of an artist.

Okay,

So with the file or saw to I make grooves perpendicular to the face of the coin or along the circumference of the coins? Also, how many grooves should I put in the coin (just an average figure I know it's probably different for everyone)? How deep should they go?

Wouldn't it be more cost effective to just replace your existing walking halves? Considering how long it would taske you to re-cut or re-file the milled edges (and do a professional looking job) I think I would just go down to the coin store and buy some replacement coins with not as worn milling.

I feel grooves are highly important for coin magic. I just cannot do without them!

The origin of edge milling on coins:

You must know this as a trivia topic!

Back in the days before milled edges, when coins were worth their face value in weight of whatever precious metal was represented, certain unscrupulous people would shave the edge off the coins to extract minute amounts of the metals to be melted down later and turned in to an assay office for collection of the valued worth of the precious metals.

The U.S. Treasury Dept. started to notice that coins were coming back to the vaults with less weight and size than when the coins left. Hence the decision was made to mill/groove the edge of the higher valued Silver and Gold coins. If the coins were tampered with it would be immediately noticeable as the milling would be absent and the edges would be smooth. You will notice that the lesser valued coins like the Penny and Nickle are free of milling, but everything from Dime to Dollar has milled edges due to the one time high Silver content.

Just thought that you might like to know!

Cheers!

Check out Reed's post in this area. He said he uses a file and the rolling track in his closet - I'm serious here.