Interesting Coin Facts

Here you can find some interesting coin facts, from how they were made, to what they are made of. United States coins have been around since the late 1700's, and they have made dramatic changes from then to now. The United States Mint is the largest manufacturer of currency in the world, and since its creation in 1792, they have become a very large entity with the production of not only United States coins, but the coins of other countries as well. One interesting coin fact is, How are coins made ? A design of a coin is made and lots of test models go into making a coin. Once a design is approved for minting, a plaster model of the coin is made. When the plaster model is finished, an exact duplicate of the coin is made into metal and a tracing lathe is used to mill a master die. This die is then detailed and finished by the engraver. This finished Master Die is now used to make duplicate dies for minting the coins. These duplicate dies are tempered (hardened) to increase the life of the die. Strips of a metal alloy called Zinc is used to produce coins. The Zinc is plated with copper or nickel, for pennies and nickels. Dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars, are made with three metals. The outer material of these are made of the same alloy used in nickels. The metal used to make each of the coins is fed into a machine that make blank coins. The blanks that are used to make pennies have already been pressed and are manufactured outside the Mint to their specifications. These blanks are then heated up to soften, and then thoroughly cleaned and polished. The defective blanks are removed and discarded, and then they are sorted into a machine which puts the rim around there edges. They are then sent to the presses to be stamped. Just so you know both the front and back of the coins are pressed are the same time. The coins are then inspected again for defects and are sorted and put into bags for shipment. A Second interesting coin fact is, what are coins made of? Well in 1792, the United States Mint required that all coins minted would be made of copper, silver, or gold. This was the standard for over a hundred years, and in 1965 Congress decided to stop using silver in Dimes and Quarters, and reduced the amount of silver used in dollars and half dollars as well. Well that was the past, what about today's coins, what are they made of. Nickels, Dimes, Quarters, and Half Dollars are made of copper and nickel of different percentages. The Golden Dollar (Sacagawea) was made of copper, nickel, zinc, and manganese.