On a whim, I turned my phone camera onto a £2 coin to try out a magnifier app. and noticed a circular design involving a chain of interlocked gear wheels around the centre of the coin. I suppose this is intended to imply money going round and round the economy or perhaps the wheels of industry smoothly rotating and supplying us all with goods.

Unfortunately, there are nineteen gears in the chain which means they will be locked solid! For them all to rotate, you need an even number of gear wheels.

Perhaps it is indeed intended to represent the way money flows or how industry works, or is the result of a sense of humour in the designer who can have complete confidence that the sort of people who will be involved in approving his design will know absolutely bugger all about even such simple engineering structures that they will be utterly unaware that they have approved a solidly jammed and useless metaphorical machine.

It made me smile anyway.

Have you ever noticed the minute engraved words around the inside edge of the rim on a new pound coin?

No, and I don't have a pound coin to hand I can examine. Is it in dodgy google latin like your motto?

My my. Who peed on your Cornflakes this morning? I wasn't being nasty to you, I just asked a question, showing an interest in your close up examination of coins.

And as far as my dodgy motto goes, it's fully intentional. It translates as "I stink, therefore I am". A wordplay on the proposition by René Descartes, "I think, therefore I am".

So, now you can Excoriate that!

Take no notice of Ex, he has nothing better to do .

I strongly recommend getting one of these: http://tinyurl.com/ydfjgqxm

There are some incredibly tiny but sharply defined details on the new £10 note.

I suggest "Fetero ergo sum" might be better perhaps?

But feel free to check your latin grammar yourself. It is 60 years since I studied it, and I wasn't very interested then.

I've just ordered one, they look like a great bit of kit for under a fiver.

Ooh, that's a tasty little morsel! Might have to buy one of those; very handy to have. Thanks for posting the link.

Are you talking that type of gadget generally Philmch or have you tested one from this particular source and found them good ?

Yes venice. I've bought one (in the Ebay link) recently and can confirm that it works well. I use it to examine my hifi stylus.

It just takes a little time to get used to focusing it correctly.

I bought a couple of them a few years ago to study insects. The magnification is excellent but be careful as the clear plastic collar is fragile and can crack and fall off. It still works but its hard to keep the lens a fixed distance from the subject. I'm amazed that the battery is still working 2 years after I bought it.
Great piece of kit.

A agree with you Habdab. They have a cheap sort of feel but work well for the price. Mine has 3 button batteries in it to power either two white or one blue LED. It's best to use it like a jeweller's eyepiece imo.

Try examining the outer edge of a new £1 coin - above where it says Elizabeth II. There's a microscopic "one pound" right round. Incredible.