Hammered Coins - How Were They Made?

Coins start as lumps of metal that look a bit like chewed gum or soft play-dough before they become shiny treasures. Long ago, people didn’t have fancy factories. They made coins by hand using nothing but heat and muscle power. Here is how it worked.

First, the workers took pieces of gold, silver, or copper and melted them down. They poured the liquid metal into flat molds to create a disk that looked like a pancake. This disk was called a planchet. It was usually too thick and rough to be money yet.

Next came the hammering part. The planchet sat on a heavy iron block. A worker held a special mold called a die against it. The die had an image carved into it, like a king’s face or a shield. Another worker swung a heavy tool, a hammer, down with great force. Whack!

This impact pressed the metal into the die. It stamped the design onto the coin and made the edges smooth. If they wanted to stamp both sides, they flipped the coin over and hit it again. The repeated hitting gave these coins their name: hammered coins. They often look a bit wobbly because no two hits were exactly the same. It is like pressing your thumb into soft clay; every push leaves its own unique mark.

This method was slow but simple. You could make money anywhere there was a blacksmith’s shop and a strong arm. The coins had rough edges, which meant people could sometimes shave off tiny bits of metal without ruining the face. That is why later coins got smooth edges to protect their value. But for centuries, those thumping, stamped discs were trusted as real wealth because you could hold them, weigh them, and trust their weight.