Q: “Was adding reeding to coins anti-semitic?”– Reeding, the practice of adding

–Q: “Was adding reeding to coins anti-semitic?”–

Reeding, the practice of adding grooves or ridges to the edges of coins.

The modern practice of reeding coins became prominent in the 17th century, particularly in England. The primary reason was to combat coin clipping, where the precious metal was shaved off the edges of coins. With reeding, any alteration to the coin’s edge would be immediately noticeable.

One of the most notorious instances linking coin clipping to antisemitism occurred in England under King Edward I. In 1278, a massive operation was launched against coin clippers, leading to the arrest of all Jews in England on suspicion of this crime. Hundreds of Jews were executed, and this event was part of a broader wave of anti-Jewish sentiment culminating in the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290.

This is one of those subjects where the stated reason for the prosecution of the jews was minor versus the substantive reason: financial baiting into hazard for profit, especially usury and unrecoverable interests rates, slaving, the sale of prostitution and alcohol on credit, and more. For example, the prohibition against jews in certain fields was to prevent their use of baiting the people into hazard while preserving some of their utility in financing for the aristocracy(demonstrated) and nobility (granted).

So as is common in history, we have difficulty in interpreting the records of the past because of the incentives of those who composed those records.

PS: Who asks me these questions on Christmas? lol (Sigh).