The coins you collect or use every day are made from a particular alloy. To ensure a coin’s current and future value, the specifications of these alloys is very accurate, often down to a number of decimal points, and tightly controlled. The process of melting, mixing and making these alloys is a specialist one that involves massive machinery, huge amounts of heat and a skilled workforce.

Once the correct amounts of each metal are melted together in a furnace to create a molten alloy, it is formed into a long strip of metal which is then rolled into a coil weighing nearly 3 tonnes! These coils are then rolled out and flattened down to the thickness of a coin before being passed through a press which punches out the discs that will go on to be struck as coins. These are called ‘blanks’.

These blanks are quality checked to ensure the alloy mix is accurate, before being cleaned ready for striking.

….and a moment of inspiration

This blank disc is a little like a blank canvas; it needs filling with brilliant creativity and beautiful design. So the process also begins with a brief, given to one of the world’s leading coin designers who are asked to use their skills and craftsmanship to interpret the theme into a powerful design that will tell the story beautifully and effectively on a canvas that can sometimes be as small as 10mm!

It takes a very specific skill to design compelling stories in such a miniature form, and to consider how the design will work when struck in metal rather than just drawn on the page or computer screen. The best coin designers really are masters of their art.

Tools, Dies and Trials

Once the design is approved it is turned into a model, often made out of plaster by a skilled engraver who creates a model that is much bigger than the final coin. This is then scanned by a computer and transferred to an engraving machine that re-creates the design in miniature and cuts it into a piece of hardened steel at the coin’s final size. There are always two for each coin; one for the obverse (or ‘heads’ side of the coin) and one for the reverse (the ‘tails’ side).

These pieces of steel called a punch or master tool, are then used to make the dies that will strike the final coins. If the dies are going to be used to strike a proof coin, they are then polished by hand using different grades of polishing paste to create that wonderful contrast between the gleaming polished ‘table’ and the beautifully frosted ‘relief’.

These dies have a lifespan, and if it looks like they are losing any of their detail or even break, then they are discarded and a new one is made from the original punch or master tool, to ensure there is always one master source for every final coin.

Striking

Where circulating coins are struck ‘on the run’ at incredibly high speeds and in huge volumes, collector coins are struck using a very slow, meticulous process. The two dies are carefully placed into a striking press to ensure the two designs are lined up properly so that the obverse and reverse are struck in the correct positions. The blank is then placed inside the press and the two dies are pressed into the blank, using huge amounts of pressure.

Each coin is struck up to six times to ensure every detail of the design is transferred from the die to the blank. Once a coin has been struck, the dies are cleaned with compressed air to remove any flecks of dust and to make sure they are completely clean, ready to strike the next coin.

Checking, Packing and Delivery

Every coin is then quality checked to ensure the absolute precision and accuracy of the strike, before being carefully placed inside its capsule and passed on to the final stage, where it is packed into its shipping container and prepared for despatch, ready to be sent out and added to your collection.

Watch the Platinum Jubilee £10 Coin being minted: