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Pillar of the Community
United States
1934 Posts |
I was doing some research on the minting process...how dies are made and used. I think a better understanding of the process (with pictures and explanations) would help us better understand and more accurately identify anomalies. I found some cursory explanations and I found a few pictures but not enough to even begin to delve into a learned explanation. Anyone care to venture explanations about coin minting machines, dies, etc? If not, I might continue to believe a coin is punched, then the D, S, and P fairies come and punch their mark on the coin afterwards; meanwhile, back at some other ranch, the bad pixies are planning Cuds, lamina problems, and doubled dies, etc !! |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
62064 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1934 Posts |
that was excellent, coop; thanks. I cringed each time I saw all those coins falling through the chutes.
so,
the hammer hammers the obverse.
the stationary amble (anvil !!) is the reverse.
hence, I suspect, the reason there are more obverse errors and varieties.
Edited by j_h_s
04/19/2010 08:16 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
62064 Posts |
Close. Anvil Now you see why the coins have bag marks on them. Looks like most happened before they got into the bag. I found the imformation about the setup process the best for me. I could see how it happens.
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New Member
United States
3 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7629 Posts |
The dies being situated where they are has nothing to do with where the varieties are. Remember that the die varieties and varieties all happen during the die making process - makes no difference where they end up hung on the press. The main reason why there are more die varieties on the obverse is because Lincoln cents far outnumber any other coin with die varieties, and the mintmark has always been on the obverse of Lincoln cents. Washington quarters from 1932-1964, on the other hand, show more die varieties on the reverse because the mintmark was on the reverse. Additionally, consideration must be made to the fact that the coining presses they use now strike the coins vertically...so technically there really isn't a "hammer" die because there is no "anvil" for the coin to rest on. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3640 Posts |
Curious, is the vertical press used now on all U.S. coinage ?
All denominations, gold, silver, all mints, business and proof strikes ?
What were the year/years the conversions started ?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
The high speed vertical Schuler presses(750 strikes/minute I believe) are only used for the business strikes. Proofs, satin finish coins, and bullion are still struck on the slower horizontal presses. Remember that some level of quality is sacrificed in return for an increase in production speed, the collector coins are always treated more gently than business strikes. The switchover has occurred primarily in the past decade but I do not know an exact year.
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Replies: 7 / Views: 1,585 |
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Posted 04/19/2010 08:07 am
