Coin Making Videos

Someone on another thread asked me about videos of die engraving. These are some OLD videos of the Gallery Mint back in the good ol' days. Not a whole lot of engraving stuff, but some of you might find it amusing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Mi6JOBzEg&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn3eKPP2NV8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGadR_BP_fo

Ron,
Those are great videos.
Thanks for posting them.
on the last video where it starts out anealing.....
what is going on with the punch and the large hammer?
is that stamping the karat of gold?
again thanks
Dave

It looks to me like he is aligning a freshly struck coin on a die and striking COPY into the coin. The reason you place the coin back onto a die is so you don't distort the opposite side of the coin when striking the punch.

Joe Paonessa (visitor to the Gallery Mint in 2003)

Very fun videos, Thank You for sharing.

Now that's a mess O concrete! I enjoyed your videos but it scared me when you struck that coin the second time. I was afraid it would get displaced when the press came off the coin that first whack and it wouldn't line up right for the second hit. I guess it was one of them there optical conclusions.

Coining question

Ron, oh keeper of coining knowledge, I have a question for you. I just finished making a die holder for my screw press that incorporates a collar, mainly because I thought confining the blank (pewter) would help bring up the detail. however, after two or three hard turns of the screw, I still have less detail on the coin struck in a collar than the ones struck with one turn when doing broad struck coins. Is this normal?

Joe Paonessa

Joe,
Thanks for the answer to my question
Dave

Joe, You have to throw the fly hard, not just squeeze it like a grape press. I'm pretty sure you know how the thing operates so it's probably not that. Also, it takes more pressure to strike in collar because it restricts metal flow. You might try a thicker blank. How big is your press, how thick and what diameter are the planchets, what kind of alloy, and how deep is the engraving? It sounds more like your press isn't big enough for the job.

Tim, we always double strike our coins to bring up the design fully. If the ram is adjusted right with no slop, there's never any mechanical doubling. The video shows the coin sticking to the bottom die on first strike and the upper die on the second strike. Sometimes it goes the other way. I had to set policy that if it sticks to the upper die on the first strike, the operator must take it off and reset it on the bottom die before the second strike, otherwise the piece can fall off mid strike and cause an off center double strike at best. Sometimes it will fall off and land on the bolster plate and cause die clash, thus destroying both dies at once.

Dave -- Joe is right. It's the mandatory COPY stamp.

Joe, You have to throw the fly pretty hard, not just squeeze it like a grape press. I'm sure you know that already, but it took me a while to figure that out the first time I used one. That being said, my guess is your press isn't big enough for the job. Striking in collar requires more pressure because it restricts medal flow. This is difficult to answer without knowing the size of the press, the size and thickness of the blank, and depth of engraving. You might try a thicker planchet. You gotta show me some of your coins. Is this your first one?

Tim, we double strike most everything we do to bring up the design all the way. If the ram is adjusted right with no slop, we never get any "mechanical doubling". You'll notice in the video where the piece sticks to the upper die on the second strike. If that happens on the first strike, it must be taken off and reset on the bottom die, otherwise it can fall off mid strike and cause die clash, a crime punishable by 48 hrs. in 'the box'. Second offense is death by firing squad.

Dave, Joe had it right. It's the mandatory COPY stamp.

Sorry for the double post. I thought I lost it accidentally and re-typed the whole thing again. My bad.