Why are coins round and not square or cubes, etc.?
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The corners on triangles, squares etc. would wear off from usage. A circle is the only shape that doesn’t have corners.
Coins at flat from the way they’re made: a small plug of metal is placed in a die that is then struck or pressed together, flattening the metal. That is how you get the designs on the heads/tails side of the coin.
Why doesn’t the US just get rid of one-dollar bills and use exclusively dollar coins? Coins are much more durable. And while they’re at it, get rid of pennies, nickels and dimes. Only have quarter, one-dollar and two-dollar coins. Give a tax break to all from all the money saved by not printing paper bills and coining low denominations for the difference in rounding up to nearest quarter. Hell, just eliminate cash altogether, ala Sweden.
I’ve seen people suggest it’s because a round shape wears evenly, but it could also in part be a holdover from how ancient coins were struck in many cases: a round blob of softened metal becomes a roughly circular shape when stamped flat. Also a circle is more material-efficient. For coins that used to be made of actual precious metals, it would have been a waste of material (and potentially time) moulding the corners. Especially, if suggested, those corners will tend to bend or break.
Today the reason is mainly mechanical, for vending machines and whatnot.
Before, because round is the natural shape you get when you hammer a piece of pliable metal into shape.
So as a by-product rather then a design decision, unlike, non-round coins that are deliberately shaped that way.
It’s easier to mint round coins, to mint a coin you have 2 dies, one on the front and one on the back and a blank heated coin, obviously a circle is easier to line up than any polygon.
Stamping the coins naturally makes them more disc-shaped anyway.
when coins were basically a guaranteed weight and purity of metal debasers used to clip the coins by cutting off the corners, round coins have no corners.
It is mainly due to structural integrity. The ocean puts a lot of pressure on the body of the ship and square coins are more susceptible to stress. Rectangular or square coins tend to be weaker in some spots as compared to others.
It’s pretty easy to stamp a flat circular part and maintain the components that do the work. Anything outside of that gets less cost effective
Fun fact about coins. The rim has a lip – the coin is slightly thicker along the edge than the center. This means that as a coin slides across a flat surface, the artistic face of the coin doesn’t rub off (instead, the rim gets worn away). This extends the lifetime off the coin by a decade.
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Coins are not cubes because it is not practical for people to carry around several cubes of metal.
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