Clip’d Coin (Negative Space), 2017

Before the late seventeenth century coins were hammer-struck, meaning they were not perfectly round. The misshapen edges of coins were vulnerable to ‘coin clipping’—a practice where shears were used to cleave metal from the coin’s edge, before returning it to circulation. The clipped metal was typically used to make counterfeit coins or sell for profit. This is why reeded or ‘ridged’ edges are a design feature of modern coins.