Ancient Minting Technology?

[Swarf, Mostly!Participant @swarfmostly]

Hi there, all,

I've posted on this topic before but my basic question has never been answered.

This post has been prompted by reading in today's news about the Henry III gold penny found by a UK metal detectorist.

Before proceeding, I must emphasise that I have no ambitions to embark on a career of counterfeiting – the beds in HM prisons are too hard for my poor old bones and their breakfast times to early!!!

Here's a picture of the coin concerned (cribbed from the Mail Online) :

According to the news article, 52,000 of these coins were minted in or around 1257 AD. This particular coin is the eighth example still existing – the gold content was worth more than the coin's negotiable value so most were soon melted down.

Now, here's my question: you surely don't strike 52,000 coins like these from only one pair of dies, so what technology did mints in 13th century Britain have that would allow/enable them to sink several sets of dies, each striking a common pair of impressions? Even for a soft metal like gold, the dies must surely have been hard???

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

[Swarf, Mostly!Participant @swarfmostly]

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

If you strike it while its hot you'll save a lot of effort

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

A bit more info about minting here and here.

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Wikipedia Coining (mint) – Wikipedia has some basic information about the making of coin dies in medieval and ancient times.

[Author]

Posts