Why Do Minters Put Dates On Coins In The First Place?

https://goccf.com/t/83595

From Sap:

Well... was wondering this myself. Thanks

The same deal: quality control.

Back in mediaeval times, it might have been tempting for a mint-worker to make underweight or debased coins, and to pocket the difference themselves. Putting mintmarks and dates on the coins acted as a deterrent: if the king's men discovered brand new coins from a certain mint that were consistently underweight or debased, they'd know exactly where to go to find the culprit. In that sense, it acted as a deterrent against coin fraud: the mint workers would know the dates and mintmarks would give them away if they made defective coins.

The punishments for a mint worker making bogus coins was quite severe, and it was no idle threat, either. Mediaeval English coins did not bear dates or "mintmarks" as we understand them, but the name of the moneyer and the town in which he worked were spelled out in full on the coin's reverse. Back in 1124, King Henry I heard rumours that the standard of his coins was slipping, so he summoned all 150 moneyers from throughout the kingdom to appear and have their coins tested - and 94 of them failed the test, and were punished by having certain body parts removed. Ironically, the surviving coins from that time period show no evidence of any such debasement; either the debased coins were very thoroughly withdrawn and destroyed, or those 94 moneyers lost their limbs on the basis of dodgy test results.

Today, of course, mint marks and dates are largely an anachronism, kept mainly because it encourages coin collectors. Governments can, in theory, use them to analyse coin circulation and distribution patterns, but I don't think anyone in the US Treasury actually does this today. In 1964, the US government deliberately stopped putting dates and mintmarks on coins, for the express purpose of dissuading coin collectors from collecting them; apparently the government of the day felt that dates and mintmarks had no other practical function.

Or the Mint workers are paid by piece part quantities.

If coins were made without dates and Mint marks, the following would be the results:
1. Hardly any coin collectors anywhere.
2. No reason for this forum
3. No reason for any PCGS TPGS's
4. No reason for Whitman to make the Red Book.
5. No reason for any coin forums.
6. No reason for discussions on which is better, Whitman or Dansco.
7. Actually no Whitman, Dansco, Littleton, etc. so many more people out of work.
8. This post would have never been made, you would not have made it, you would be sitting there wondering what you and why you were sitting there.

And one of the worst in a long time. Weather here is so bad I missed going to a coin show last Sunday and may well miss another this weekend unless we can get out of this 95+ stuff.