Edge Nick. A dent on the corner of a coin or medal's edge, at the rim/edge juncture, where numismatic items are most vulnerable to damage from dropping or mishandling. British numismatists call this edge knock.

Edge nicks differ from nicks or small depressions on a flat surface that can be removed by chasing. On the flat surface there is metal to draw from to eliminate the depression; because there is no such metal to draw from on an edge neck these cannot be chased and are therefore more permanent and serious.

Test cuts are a kind of edge nick purposely cut into the edge of a numismatic item by unthinking people to ascertain the base composition. All plated items, particularly gilt and goldplated, are vulnerable to this practice; silver and silverplated items less so. It is a shameful mutilation of a numismatic item and obviously lowers its condition and valuation; there are other, less destruction methods of determining the item's composition. See composition.