Coins as individuals

At first glance the coin does not appear to have any flaws or production mistakes that could have occurred during the striking process: there are no visible mis-strikes or double-strikes. However, the coin does not seem to be perfectly circular. This is no error in the striking process, but in the process of making the flan. But similar to striking errors, the coin retained its full value and ended up in circulation. Not one coin minted by hand in ancient times was one hundred percent perfect, thus giving every coin a sense of individuality, with or without flaws and mistakes. The minting of such coins was not done by intricate machining as is done today. It was possible for a single individual to make these coins, but more often it took multiple people to mint them, working as hard as they could to churn out as many as fast as possible. There were various steps one had to go through to produce these coins, and sometimes the process did not go as intended. Coins were produced in three stages. First the issuing authority would have to decide on the material of the coin. The three most common metals for this purpose were bronze, silver and gold, but other varieties and combinations certainly existed. Then a plain piece of metal, a so-called flan, was created. There were different ways of making these blanks, but the most common was to cut a thin piece of the desired material. Secondly the dies, or stamps, were made. These were commonly produced in metal, so as to be strong enough to withstand certain amounts of force used while striking the coins. The dies were engraved by hand, inset and in reverse, so that the dies would mirror the image that was to be depicted on the coin. Two dies were always needed for a single coin, and the obverse, or front, would most commonly depict the head or image of the issuing authority. The last stage was the actual striking of the coin, which was a rather straightforward process. The flan would be placed on the lower die, which was set in an anvil or piece of wood. The upper die would then be placed over the flan and struck with a hammer, thus imprinting the two images in the metal. In this process of minting coins there were several things that could go wrong. There was the possibility that the flan was not placed in the center of the lower die, resulting in an off-center image (mis-strike). Or the flan could have moved slightly between hits, resulting in a double image where the coin was struck twice at a different rotation (double-strike). Most of these coins would still end up in circulation, as even with their ‘flaws’ they retained their value in the monetary system.Wickens, J.M., "The Production of Ancient Coins" in eds. Carol L. Lawton, Bearers of Meaning (Lawrence 1995)