Coin Videos

This video was taken at the ANA money show on March 15th, 2009. It shows the Ancient Greek style of coin striking.

The video synopsis states:

This coin was made from a quarter ounce of fine silver, and struck while red hot on hand engraved ancient greek style dies that took over 250 hours to make.

Obviously the ancient Greeks did not utilize a torch for heating the metal, but the video does give you an idea of how manual the whole process was. Even if a steady supply of heated planchets could be maintained, they had to be individually placed on the die, a punch placed over it and then it had to be hit hard with a hammer.

Trust must have been key in the process as they guy holding the punch could easily be accidentally hit with the hammer.