To say a coin has been minted means it has been produced at a [mint] , which is a facility that manufactures coins.
The term mintage refers to both the process of creating coins and the total number of coins produced during a specific period. Mintage numbers play a significant role in determining a coin’s rarity and value for collectors.
The minting process involves several steps:
- Design Creation: An artist’s design is developed, often into a 3D model, and approved by authorities.
- Die Creation: The design is transferred onto hard metal dies, which are used to strike the coins. Modern dies are made of hardened steel and can produce hundreds of thousands of coins.
- Striking: Blank metal discs called planchets are prepared and struck between engraved dies under high pressure to imprint the design.
- Quality Control: The newly minted coins are inspected for defects, cleaned, and sorted before being packaged for distribution.
The term “minted” can also be used more broadly to describe something recently produced or completed, such as a “freshly minted script”.
Why are coins called minted?
When the Romans conquered Britain in the first century A.D., they took this word with them, and it stuck around. In Old English texts, we find reference to a place where coins were made being called a mynet, which over time evolved into the modern word mint (which has no relation to the mint in a mint julep).
What makes a coin minted?
And contains the raised mirror image of the coin’s. Design since the relief.