LaunchPad: Coin Production in the Roman World

[@spydersweb2]

it's a great demo, but it doesn't address the issue of the die-making. I have examined many ancient coins with a powerful loupe and marvelled at the artists' skill in carving and engraving with some features less than a hundredth of an inch. How were the die maker artists able to carve minute details like eyeballs, hair, etc into the die with what must have been very crude lenses made of water-filled glass spheres? Have there been any attempts to replicate this process?

[@manifestgtr]

Dennie Kirtley For sure...but you know, in 2000 years, someone could easily look at an ipad and say “how did those idiots pull off such incredible microprocessing in the year 2008!” Maybe some of those patents will be gone. The machinery and manuals may be lost to history...internet archives long since obliterated by a solar outburst. Meanwhile, it’s obvious to us that the evolution of such minute detail in electron manipulation took over 200 years. Personally, I find it fascinating that many details have been lost to history. I know it’s obviously very frustrating to academics and reproduction artists but it lends a certain magic to relics from the ancient world.

[@JohnSmith-cj9cx]

The coin dies were engraved by hand, by very skilled engravers.

[@oxnardschooldistrict5802]

@@manifestgtr There are countless examples of what human beings are capable of if they dedicate their lives to a single craft, simple or complex. Simple - you can slice an onion into translucent strips while holding it in your hand (ex.food carts in modern day) or complex, let's say early HP and IBM, have you ever seen microscopic blow up prints of their complex circuits in processors? kzbin.info/www/bejne/aajPmIGPi7eBbbM static.righto.com/images/am2901/die2.jpg

[@manifestgtr]

@@oxnardschooldistrict5802 DAMN...that dude with the onion is rockin

[@BopWalk]

I'm pretty sure the engraving was done on wax which was then casted into the metal dies. It wasn't engraved straight on metal.

[@joupe5268]

I always wondered how Roman coins were made, thanks for the video!

[@nedwalport4426]

TheKingJooballz I am left wondering how the dies were made .....

[@jomama3465]

Me too have always wondered how ancient coins were minted but sadly we don't exactly how it's done and the one showed in the video is only an experiment.

[@christianweatherbroadcasting]

Jesus is the only way. We have all sinned and deserve Hell. Sins that may seem small in our eyes are big in God's and are worthy of Hell, such as lying lusting and stealing. But if we repent and trust only in Jesus, he is faithful and will save us from Hell and give us eternal life in Heaven. Trust in Jesus! John 3:16 Romans 6:23❤😊❤❤😊😊

[@ytwar1]

There is lots of evidence that blanks were struck cold, not hot or warmed. People who have reproduced the process find cold blanks strike just as easily and are obviously far easier to work with.

[@thegrandlevel313]

It was a security feature, yes. Coins were often sent blank to be stamped on arrival. Armies on campaign in hostile lands needed payroll, but if that shipment was stolen, blank coins could not be traded in the empire, blank coins professionally poured and of the correct content (remember, just like we can recognize banknotes and coins by feel, they could recognize approximate metal content by feel and they also dealt with thousands of different kinds of coins every day, they knew what stolen blanks looked like) There are also cases of emperors who never existed or people who were members of the administration who were used as dummy coins so the source of stolen coinage could be traced. This second scenario was common when sending coins to another capital city or as a honey pot to catch counterfeiters.

[@skywind007]

And they were typically unaligned.

[@christianweatherbroadcasting]

Jesus is the only way. We have all sinned and deserve Hell. Sins that may seem small in our eyes are big in God's and are worthy of Hell, such as lying lusting and stealing. But if we repent and trust only in Jesus, he is faithful and will save us from Hell and give us eternal life in Heaven. Trust in Jesus! John 3:16 Romans 6:23❤❤

[@Soosenbinder]

​@@christianweatherbroadcasting take your pills pls

[@brianrichards7006]

This description of the production of planchets (coin blanks, prior to minting) is, I believe, inaccurate. After looking at a lot of ancient coins, my observations are that the planchets were cut out of a sheet of metal. This sheet of metal was produced by casting metal into a mold and then hammering it out into a flat sheet, an extremely early technique, practiced almost everywhere in the ancient world, as a preparatory method for holloware and jewelry, and incidentally coin planchets, The planchets were cut out in approximately the appropriate shape and size and then weighed to assure the correct weight. More metal could be removed from the edge if necessary. Underweight coin planchets were sent to be re-melted, along with the scrap from the planchet making process. There are ancient coins which are actually cast entirely as a coin, with the designs on both sides, and there are instances of planchets being made by casting, but, by far, planchets were made as I describe.

[@harryjoe860]

Brian Richards a

[@calebchild4467]

That sounds more reliable and less labor-intensive than what we see in the video, so I believe it. That said, I imagine at some point someone at least *tried* to make them the way they showed, so I wouldn't say the video is wholly inaccurate.

[@bartsaxton7071]

You are 100% correct

[@nodnodwinkwinkV]

It's a pity the final step of hammering a blank was not done instead of using CGI...

[@kacatriku]

Even a little child can guess how the metal is melted and then put it in the mold...how about the dies... that's the most interesting fact that is missing..

[@christianweatherbroadcasting]

Jesus is the only way. We have all sinned and deserve Hell. Sins that may seem small in our eyes are big in God's and are worthy of Hell, such as lying lusting and stealing. But if we repent and trust only in Jesus, he is faithful and will save us from Hell and give us eternal life in Heaven. Trust in Jesus! John 3:16 Romans 6:23😊❤❤

[@edouardwotawa3078]

do you know where we can get the dies with roman figures, to make replicas?

[@dominic0147]

im curious as well

[@MegaTrickyOne]

You mean fakes right??.... Why make replicas when the real deal are both plentiful and not expensive?

[@edouardwotawa3078]

no I mean just for myself, and testing the experience, recreate the coins the old way...

[@brianrichards7006]

I have used this following method,(greatly abbreviated) not for faking, but to experiment in making "coins", whereby I create a positive master model, in exactly the size of the "coin" and exactly the design I desire. I cast a "die" (the exact negative) with liquid steel. The resultant "die" (or dies) can be used as the ancient mints used their steel or iron dies. This is a shortcut using modern materials. Otherwise, learn die cutting (called intaglio for making seals out of stone materials),

[@dominic0147]

Brian Richards can you make a how to video ?

[@johnsingh7786]

THAT WAS COOL. if i ever find a Roman Gold Coin, it would be cool. not jsut for the gold content, but the history. who has ever held a piece of man made any thing that is roughly the time of Jesus.

[@muser7935]

i have a pair, would buy?

[@jason4275]

I want to make my own coin with my face as the symbol.

[@diddykong7354]

jason4275 do it. It’s easier nowadays.

[@stephelliott7262]

How

[@XavierArrived]

Wow I love the place its so cool how its made

[@bartsaxton7071]

I do coin striking demos, if you want me to come to chicago and strike some coins for you I would be happy to do that.

[@AdventuresWithPurpose]

Bart... Are you still around? I have a few questions. I pull cars from rivers and want to melt the aluminum down to make collector coins. Interested in the striking demo process and die making for it. I didn't see info on how to get a hold of you in on your page. Can you track me down?

[@DarkSygil666]

Liking the post will notify him if he's still on KZbin, and hopefully he'll get back to you.

[@Michael-db1ce]

Why didn't they use measured amounts of silver in pre-drilled or chiseled wells in a rock, then heat the thing in a furnace? Seems like a resilient mold could be used repeatedly in a furnace.

[@JOHNTOPG]

Sorry don't think they made millions of coins this way

[@jeffreyorosas2393]

Awesome Video Love it and Enjoyed it very much.Thank you for it!!

[@marchofrichter5172]

did not really follow through with the production.

[@Sebster_m]

Thanks you so much this video is a life saver.

[@CaStW]

Wow,Awesome!

[@andrewboyd8974]

Thank you for Sharing

[@calebchild4467]

In all honesty, this isn't too different from how coins are made today.

[@tomlxyz]

Many coins today have a different core metal than surface metal

[@SuperMoeLarryCurly]

Nice work !

[@worldview730]

Good history lesson 👍

[@kenhutch7727]

How did romans carve into the steel stamps or dies?

[@nickcarter9538]

They didn't. General beliefs about the matter is that wax patterns were made and the stamps with the lost wax process. In addition it is generally believed that the stamps were cast from a hard bronze, I believe they had the capability to cast iron stamps but to the best of my knowledge none have been found.

[@DirtCobaine]

I’ve always wondered why the coins we find today aren’t perfectly round. I wonder if it used to be perfectly round like coins today but just being that old they decay and lose their shape or if they didn’t care to make it perfectly round and just made the blanks round enough and didn’t really care to make it perfect. Can’t seem to find any answers on this

[@tomlxyz]

If they were round but lost that due to decay then the imprints would have decayed too

[@DirtCobaine]

@@tomlxyz what do you mean? I’m not sure I follow

[@DieLuftwaffel]

No not all were perfectly round. They had quality standards they were supposed to meet but it didnt equate to absolute perfection. Some lazy makers still passed some through that were visibly offset. Also many coins had small fractures around the edges from stresses on the metal from the hammer blow.

[@FlavianoTarducci]

Thanks, very clear!

[@Alfiewobbel]

''you can think of obverse and reverse as being similar to heads and tails'' thank you for making sure that millennials can also understand it

[@brandonberry5186]

Honestly this might be the most interesting and relevant video on all of KZbin for your financial future... (08 was small compared to 2023 ill)

[@bonkersmcgee4356]

So many coins look very off center as if they were struck poorly. Why were these allowed to go into circulation instead of just being melted back down again?

[@calebchild4467]

If you are talking about the coins actually used in antiquity, there are two things to bear in mind: One, the old coins we have are just what happened to survive, so most of them have been damaged over time. That is, they look worse than what people commonly used. Two, many old coins were worth exactly their value in material, and minting the coin was just a good way to make a reliable measure of silver or gold for trade. With that in mind, it's not very economical to spend the time and money to melt and reforge a coin just because the die was off. As long as the weight is correct, then the value is correct. Heating up a forge isn't cheap, you know.

[@razvanpastor3615]

Because untill not long ago, the value of the currency was in the pretious metal from which it was made. The ruller approved the currency by stamping his/her's emblem(s) on it. So as long as the metal and weigh was correct, the accuracy of the stamp did not matter so much

[@Mustafa1998]

are you dumb?