Why do Dimes and Quarters have small ridges on their sides, but Pennies and Nickels do not?

Is it a counterfeiting defense, or just one of those anomolies in the universe, that nobody can explain?Why do Dimes and Quarters have small ridges on their sides, but Pennies and Nickels do not?
Nowadays, it's just tradition. Originally, larger denomination coins such as dimes and quarters were made with silver or gold, and the ridges on the edges were to prevent people from shaving off bits of the metal. Nickels and pennies were made with cheaper metal, where such shaving wouldn't have been profitable, and thus were made without the ridges. (The metal difference is also why dimes are much smaller than nickels or pennies - the silver they were made from was worth more than the larger amount of copper or nickel used in the lesser values.)Why do Dimes and Quarters have small ridges on their sides, but Pennies and Nickels do not?
When they started minting the coins they thought no one would waste their time trying to counterfeit the pennies and nickles but they weren't so sure about the dimes, quarters and half-dollars and so they 'ridged' the edges to make it more difficult to copy them.


The United States actually notches the edges of these coins.


Canada has edging that just cuts into the side of the coin. Some Canadian dimes have been made in the United States when there was a shortage and the United States' form of edging appears on those coins.
No, I think it has to do with what they are/were made out of. At one time dimes and Quarters were made out of Silver And, people would shave a little bit off the edges of each coin and get a pile of silver shavings that's worth something. And, I guess the coins would just keep getting smaller. So they put the small ridges on it so you'd know immediately is someone had shaved some off the edge.
It helps vending machines handle them.





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