From Ingot To Coin, Or. . . "so You Want To Start A Mint?"

There was a show on the US mint on the Discovery network if I remember right it was a cool show too on coin production.

Fascinating. It's always interesting to see this kind of thing.

Very nice!

Here is the rest of the story:


Planchet Strip Exiting From The Rolling Mill At The Prescribed Thickness, Ready To Be Coiled.


Coils Of Planchet Strip, coiled and Waiting To Be Used.


More Coils Of Planchet Strip, Coiled and Waiting To Be Used.


The Bonding Mill That Bonds the copper-Nickel Outer Layers Of The Clad coinage to the Copper Core.


Here You See The 'Webbing Or Planchet Strip With The Holes Punched Out, Exiting The Blanking Press.


Webbing' At The End Of Machine And Going Into A Tote Bin. This Will Be Chopped Up And Added Back Into The Melt (As Previously Seen).


The Upsetting Mill Which Form The Raised Edges On The Planchets.


Tote Bins For Blank Planchets.

The blank planchets now pass through an 'upsetting mill' which forms the raised edge to protect the design of the coin as well as to aid in stacking. The planchets are fed through the turning grooved wheel they come out slightly smaller in diameter than when they entered.

The 'Type 2' (raised edge) blank planchets are then stored in large tote bins (on wheel) until needed for the striking presses. As you can see in the above photo, the 5 cent and 25 cent bins are side by side and it would be easy to mistake one for the other if the worker wasn't careful. It is not uncommon for a blank planchet from one denomination to become lodged in a crevice of a tote bin used for several different denominations and get mixed in with other different sized blanks. This is a major reason why we sometimes find a quarter struck on a 5 cent planchet, a cent on a 10 cent planchet, etc.

The blank planchets are fed down long chutes to the coining presses, ready to be struck by the dies. If planchets jam in these chutes, none are deposited in the collar prior to striking and the two dies (the reverse on the bottom and the obverse on the top) strike together, transferring their designs, or portions thereof, on each other. These are referred to as 'clash marks', and will appear on each coin struck by those dies until they are removed from the press and polished or retired from service completely. As you know, clash marks are frequently used in determining the authenticity of many commemoratives and play an important part in determining various die stages on coins.


Striking Chamber With Obverse (Hammer) Die In The Raised Position.


Obverse Die Descending To Strike the Planchet.

The following two photos offer a seldom seen sight—the first is a box of 'raw' dies, before they have been hubbed or impressed by the appropriate design. Note that they are conical in shape in order to more readily accept the design from the hub. Several impressions are required by the (positive) hub in order to produce the desired depth and clarity in the (incuse) die. It is during this hubbing process that doubled dies occur, primarily due to improper hub-to-die alignment.


Unfinished Dies, Prior To Hubbing.


A Negative (Incuse) Impression, Ready For Coin Production.

As the new coins leave the striking area, they are fed through large hoppers to a counting and bagging area. In the last two photos we see them coming down the trough to be counted and the (sic) bagged.





The bags are stored at the mint until shipped to the various Federal Reserve Banks upon request.

The Minting Process - sketched briefly and basically for you in this article, is a valuable tool in helping you understand not only various abnormalities on coins, but many aspects of grading as well"1

1. The Commemorative Trail, the Newsletter of the Society for U.S. Commemorative Coins, From Ingot to Coin, or . 'So You Want to Start a Mint?', by Bill Fivaz, Winter, 1985, p. 23-31.


THE END

Hope this was a positive learning experience.

Lee-
I think this is really cool information and so I tried to ask privately, but you are not receiving email, so I have to ask publically...

Do you have permission from Mr. Fivaz or the society to reprint this material?

If not, with all the best intentions, you've opened CCF up to a DMCA takedown notice - should the copyright holder(s) choose to assert their rights.

Fair use does permit you to use portions (usually small) of a copyrighted article or book as part of a larger work. For example, were you to write a report about your recent trip to the mint and contrast your own photo with "here's how it looked in 1985".

But just referencing the source does not make it fair use to reprint somebody else's copyrighted material.

Bill Fivaz is a prolific author and researcher and I'll bet he would give permission in a heart beat. But you have to ask first. His contact information is available through PCGS' dealer locator (just Google Bill Fivaz - it's the 1st hit)

If you go into your account settings, you should be able to change that.