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 Replies: 10 / Views: 2,149 |
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
We all know that the mint uses their dies until they fall apart  . My question is,how much does it cost for one die and how many coins on average can a die mint before the end product becomes poor quality? Thanks all. John1  |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Interesting question. Dies are far cheaper to create than they used to be, because it's all computerized now. They go straight from the computer screen to a CNC machine which produces a Master Hub at actual size, from which Master Dies are produced. Die life varies widely depending on the size of the coin and the metal which it strikes. The only for-sure number I have off the top of my head is Morgan dollars, for which 200,000 coins from a single die was a pretty complete lifetime. My guess is that Moderns, with their simpler designs and lesser relief, far exceed this durability. |
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
Quote:
Interesting question Thank you. Reason I asked is that the quality of the coins can get pretty low. If it isn't all that expensive to make a die they should be switching them out before they get to bad. We (the mint) should be putting more pride in how our coins look and represent our country don't you think? John1 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
900 Posts |
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We (the mint) should be putting more pride in how our coins look and represent our country don't you think? While this is certainly a true statement, I want to point out that post-1993 Lincoln cents have improved nearly immeasurably over mid 1950's through 1970 LMC's. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Current coins die life is around 500K - 750K per die pair for the five cent through dollar and around 1M for the cents. In the 19th century most issues could be assumed around 200K per die pair except for the coppernickel coins. The Liberty head nickels had longer die lives but the Shield nickels ran from 15K in the early years to 23K by 1883. Die life increased when the diameter was increasedin 1883 for the V nickels. I would expect the nickel Three Cent die lives were probably similar to that of the Shield nickels. 18th century die lives were also short. For example the 1798 cent was the first coin with a mintage over a million and they required 32 obv dies to strike them. That is an average of just over 31K coins per die. The 1796 cent had 471K coin from 26 obv or an average of 18K per die. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1132 Posts |
Interesting figures Condor. Is there a database for this information?
Edited by CopperCastle
10/06/2014 11:58 pm
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Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
scurry64, I agree but I was mainly thinking modern zincoln with the over abraded dies and zinc rot,split plating etc. Conder101, Good inf..thanks. Do you have an idea of the cost a die? John1 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19949 Posts |
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Do you have an idea of the cost a die?
I don't think that is published. You'd probably have to request via FOI. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5854 Posts |
I tried searching for the cost but couldn't find anything. The U.S mint lumps the cost of dies into the supplies category in their annual report. I think nohope587 said the dies for the CCF token cost $1800. An online search shows private mints charging anywhere from $150-2000 per die pair depending on size and design. Given how many coins the mint makes, I would assume they would have to equipment to bring the costs down to the low end of that range.
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Valued Member
United States
93 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
And retired because it broke or at least developed a die chip. And 118,000 strikes at that time would have been about 16 hours of use. Today it would be about two and a half hours.
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Replies: 10 / Views: 2,149 |
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Posted 10/06/2014 1:22 pm
