The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 6, February 11, 2007, Article 24

USA TODAY ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS NEW DOLLAR COIN EDGE-LETTERING

While it doesn't get into the details some numismatists might like
to see, it was gratifying to see a Wednesday, February 7, 2007 article
in USA Today about the new dollar coins that discusses the edge
lettering process, which hasn't been done on U.S. coins in decades.

The online version of the article links to a set of eleven great color
photos of the Philadelphia mint operation and personnel including
sculptor-engravers Don Everhart and Joe Menna.  Of particular interest
(to me, anyway) are photos of the computer screens used by the staff
to refine their designs, and a photo of a set of master dies and
reduction hubs for the new Washington dollar.

To view the Philadelphia Mint photos, see: Full Story

"In most government buildings, workers and visitors have to walk
through metal detectors on their way in.

"While that's also the case at the Philadelphia Mint, the biggest
scrutiny comes when it's time to leave the building. Highly sensitive
metal detectors scan people and their items for any coins. The smallest
amount of metal, even underwire in bras, can set off the buzzer,
leading to additional searches."

"Walking through the Mint, you'd think you were in any other factory,
surrounded by machinery, forklifts and signs encouraging workers to
wear safety goggles.

"Except for one thing: the sound, an unmistakable jingle-jangle of
millions of coins being stamped out of long sheets of metal weighing
as much as 10,000 pounds each, then rolling down conveyers. It's as
if every slot machine in a Las Vegas casino were paying out at the
same time."

"When Congress ordered the new dollar-coin program, it created several
challenges. Perhaps the biggest was that the legislation required the
phrases "E Pluribus Unum" and "In God We Trust," along with the year
and the mint location, to appear in recessed letters on the edges,
rather than the faces, of the coins. Such lettering allows for a
larger portrait, draws attention to the wording and provides something
different for coin collectors.

"That created a headache for the engineers and others trying to figure
out how to mass-produce the coins, says Richard Robidoux, plant manager
at the Philadelphia Mint. Edge lettering hasn't been used on a coin
since 1932, so Mint officials didn't have experience manufacturing
coins with that feature and didn't own machinery that inscribes on
the edges of coins.

"A real challenge was coming up with a process to produce the coins
quickly. 'It's one thing to make it work, it's another thing to make
it work 3 million times a day,' Robidoux says.

"The Mint figured out how to make it work, with an interesting
twist. Because the coins are fed through an edge-lettering machine
a thousand coins a minute at the end of the minting process, the
lettering's placement on the edges will be different from coin to
coin."

To read the complete USA Today article, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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