Barnes: clipping of Island coin

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Marius Hancu - 20 Jul 2009 12:03 GMT

Hello:

"Clipping the Island coin," could it mean here cutting in pieces, to
get the scrap metal for minting the counterfeit? Or could it mean
"bypassing/shortchanging the Island coin?"

--
["England, England" is constituted on the Isle of Wight, a
manufactured replica of "Old England. There's smuggling going on.]

Infiltration and surveillance had revealed the following: the clipping
of Island coin and the minting of counterfeit; the secret distillation
of a colourless, high-proof spirit from local apples; [...]

Julian Barnes, England, England, p. 200
---

--
Thanks.
Marius Hancu

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Cheryl - 20 Jul 2009 12:18 GMT

> Hello:
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Julian Barnes, England, England, p. 200

I think that clipping refers to the practise of cutting bits off around
the edges of a coin, and selling the scrap metal. Of course, this only
worked (for the criminal) when the coin was made of a fairly high
percentage of gold or silver. I also seem to recall that milling the
coins (having little indentations put in the outer edge) was an attempt
to make it obvious if anyone had tried to clip a coin.

Cheryl

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Eric Walker - 20 Jul 2009 12:21 GMT

> "Clipping the Island coin," could it mean here cutting in pieces, to get
> the scrap metal for minting the counterfeit? Or could it mean
> "bypassing/shortchanging the Island coin?" . . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coin_clipping

Signature

Cordially,
Eric Walker, Owlcroft House
http://owlcroft.com/english/

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Marius Hancu - 20 Jul 2009 12:28 GMT

> > "Clipping the Island coin," could it mean here cutting in pieces, to get
> > the scrap metal for minting the counterfeit? Or could it mean
> > "bypassing/shortchanging the Island coin?" . . . .
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coin_clipping

Thank you both.
Marius Hancu

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Peter Duncanson (BrE) - 20 Jul 2009 12:35 GMT

>Hello:
>
>"Clipping the Island coin," could it mean here cutting in pieces, to
>get the scrap metal for minting the counterfeit?

It means shaving off a small amount of metal from coins. The coins would
still be usable and the "coin clipper" would accumulate valuable metal.
This was at a time when coins were made of precious metal, silver or
gold:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coin_clipping

Coin clipping is the act of shaving off a small portion of a
precious metal coin for profit. Over time the precious metal
clippings would be saved up and melted into bullion.
....
Coin clipping was usually considered by the law to be of a similar
magnitude to counterfeiting, and was occasionally punished by death.

Coin clipping is why many coins have the rim of the coin marked with
stripes (milling or reeding), text (engraving) or some other pattern
that would be destroyed if the coin were clipped, a process
attributed to Isaac Newton,...

> Or could it mean
>"bypassing/shortchanging the Island coin?"
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>Julian Barnes, England, England, p. 200
>---

Signature

Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

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Steve Hayes - 22 Jul 2009 04:24 GMT

>Hello:
>
>"Clipping the Island coin," could it mean here cutting in pieces, to
>get the scrap metal for minting the counterfeit? Or could it mean
>"bypassing/shortchanging the Island coin?"

Almost.

It means cutting a small piece out of a coin, usually for such a purpose.

Signature

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009

Barnes: clipping of Island coin