Hasta La Ideas

Coining, a type of stamping, is a production method that uses brute force to smash a die into a piece of metal, leaving an imprint. (Kind of like when a ring-wearing Rick James punched Charlie Murphy in the forehead in that “Chappelle Show” sketch.) Coining is how they make coins (duh), military medals, and police badges.

The earliest industrial coining presses looked like this and were powered by large men the size of rhinoceroses:

In the late 1800s they were steam-powered and looked like this:

Nowadays the machines look quite different. Hit the jump to see them, along with photos of the entire coining process in action at the Denver Mint. We promise you, it’s fascinating!

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