Making coin blanks and planchets Minting Plachets and blanks How blanks and planchets are made Coin blanks used for striking coins can be purchased from coin blank suppliers, or be produced by the mint itself. In making such blanks, bars are first scrubbed to provide a consistent surface, free from impurities or imperfections which not only produce defective coins, but also reduce the life span of the dies. The bars are later annealed and rolled to become strips of metal having the exact thickness specified of each denomination of coin. Blanks and planchets represent the same product at different stages of production: the unstruck, circular pieces of metal that become coins when struck between the dies. Blanks are unfinished planchets that haven't been through all of the processing steps necessary before they can be struck into coins. Once a blank has been through all of the processing steps, it becomes a planchet and is ready to be struck. Making a blank The first step in the coin making process involves the feeding of the metal strips through what is known as a "blanking" press. The U.S.

Mint buys strips of metal approximately 13 inches wide and 1,500 feet long to manufacture the nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, and dollar. The strips come rolled in a coil. Each coil is fed through a blanking press, which punches out round discs called blanks. The blank presses have a bank of punches (or rams) which travel downward through the strip of coinage metal and into a steel bedplate which has holes corresponding to the punches. The presses punch out blanks each time the punches make their downward cycle. The leftover strip, called webbing is shredded and recycled. The blanks made at this stage are slightly larger than the finished coins. Because of the shearing action of the punches, the blanks have rough edges. Most of the rough edges (or burrs) are removed during succeeding operations. The blanks are next passed over sorting screens which are supposed to eliminate all of the defective pieces. Thin and incomplete blanks will fall through the screens. Rejected blanks and remaining parts of the metal strips are returned to the furnaces to be remelted into bars.

During the finish rolling and blanking press operations the blanks have again been hardened and must now be softened (heated) to controlled temperatures, approximately 1400 degrees Fahrenheit, changing their crystal structure to a softer state. The annealing ensures that the blanks have reached a coinable hardness so that they can be stuck to capture the full relief of the designs of the working dies. This process prolongs the life of the coining dies by ensuring well-struck coins with lower striking pressures. The blanks are then "frozen" into that state by a water quench bath. From planchets to coins Despite a protective atmosphere, annealing causes some discoloration on the surfaces of the blanks which must be removed. The blanks are tumbled against each other and passed through a chemical bath. Then they are dried by forced hot air. Many of the blanks' next stop is an upsetting mill, which raises a rim around their edges turning the blanks into planchets. The upsetting mill consists of a rotating wheel with a groove on its edge. The grooved edge of the wheel fits into a curved section (or shoe) which has a corresponding groove.

The distance between the wheel and the shoe gets progressively narrower so that, as the blank is rolled along the groove, a raised rim is formed on both sides of the blank. This raised rim serves several purposes. It sizes and shapes the blank for better feed at the press and it work-hardens the edge to prevent escape of metal between the obverse die and the collar. The rimmed blanks are now planchets and are ready to go to the coining or stamping press where upper and lower dies stamp the designs and inscriptions on both sides of the coin simultaneously. At this point, the blanks become genuine coins. After the coins have been struck, they go through a final inspection to check for flaws. This can be done either manually by trained quality controllers or automatically. A new prototype inspection system underwent testing at the Denver Mint in 1996. Planchets are carried along a conveyor belt beneath electronic sensors that reject substandard pieces. After inspection and acceptance, the finished coins are mechanically counted and placed into large canvas bags for shipment to local banks on an as-needed basis. More about the actual striking process in the next page...

The minting process Planchet | Define Planchet at Dictionary.com planchet a flat piece of metal for stamping as a coin; a coin blank. Origin of planchet Examples from the Web for planchet Expand British Dictionary definitions for planchet Expand a piece of metal ready to be stamped as a coin, medal, etc; flan Word Origin C17: from French: little board, from plancheplank1 Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for planchet Expand n. "metal disk out of which a coin is made," 1610s, from French planchette, literally "a small board," diminutive of Old French planche (12c.), from Latin planca "board, slab, plank" (see plank ).

The planchette used in automatism and on Ouija boards is a re-borrowing of the French word, 1860. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Planchet : definition of Planchet and synonyms of Planchet (English) 6 External links History The preparation of the flan or planchet has varied over the years. In ancient times, the flan was heated before striking because the metal that the coin dies were made of was not as hard as dies today, and the dies would have worn faster and broken sooner had the flan not been heated to a high temperature to soften it. Modern striking Today's dies are made from hardened steel , and the presses use many thousands of pounds of force to strike coins (varying according to the size of the coin and the complexity and relief of the design). In addition, today's coins have much lower relief than ancient coins. Because of this, the planchet no longer needs to be heated immediately before striking, although it is annealed by heating and slow cooling which softens the coin. Preparation A 6,000-pound coil is fed into a blanking press at the US Mint.

Preparation of the modern planchet involves several steps. First, the metal (or metals in the case of clad or multilayered coins) is rolled out into a large roll or sheet of the correct thickness. This process is often done by third parties, not by the mint itself. These flat rolls or sheets of metal are then punched out into round blanks that are a little larger than the coin being struck. The blanks are then subjected to an annealing process that softens the metal through heating to approximately 750 degrees Celsius (1400 degrees Fahrenheit ) and are then slowly air cooled. They are then washed to remove residue from the annealing process and dried. The blanks then go through an upsetting mill that raises the rim on the edge of the coin. Completion Main article: Coining (mint) Finally, the planchet is struck. After striking, it becomes a coin and is no longer a planchet. Occasionally, a planchet will escape the mint without having been struck. This is a blank planchet error, and is usually worth a few dollars for modern coins.

Occasionally, blank planchets can be rare and valuable, such is the case for Morgan Dollar blank planchets, although authentication is highly recommended for such pieces as they would be fairly easy to counterfeit. See also How Much Is My Blank Coin Worth? How Much is My Blank Coin Worth? How Much is My Blank Coin Worth? Blank Sacajawea, Native American, Presidential One Dollar Coins. Image Courtesy of: Heritage Auction Galleries, Updated November 18, 2016. Question: How Much is My Blank Coin Worth? Answer: A blank coin, technically called a blank planchet if it has an upraised rim on it, is worth a few dollars, perhaps $2 to $4 if it's clad , more if it's silver. The Sacajawea, Presidential, and Native American Dollar coins all use the same type of planchet. These coins are worth anywhere from twelve dollars to fifteen dollars. The Cause of Blank Coins However, if your blank coin has a reeded edge on it, you're dealing with something entirely different. Most likely, someone sheared the metal faces off the coin, or ground out the devices and polished the surface, because they way the U.S.

Mint makes coins, it is impossible for a planchet to be blank and still have reeded edges, since the reeded edges are created at the same instant the faces are struck. Almost Blank Coins There are some known coin striking issues that can result in an almost blank planchet with reeded edges. If you see a faint, but very blurry or weak impression on the planchet, it might be a die adjustment strike , which is worth $20 to $40 depending on the type of coin and depth of strike. continue reading below our video 5 Hobbies That Look Good on Your Resume Another possibility for almost blank coins is a strike-through error, where something got in between the dies and the planchet surface, such as cloth or grease, when the coin was struck thereby obscuring or obliterating the devices (or parts of them.) The value of these varies based on the degree of obstruction and eye appeal, and can run from $2 to $40 depending on what it was struck through. Blank Coins with No Rims If your blank coin doesn't even have the upraised rim yet, it's technically a coin blank .

If it is made of silver, it is almost impossible to authenticate, but if it's clad, an expert in error coins could probably authenticate it, in which case (if authentic) it's worth maybe $50 or more. Keep in mind that a genuine coin blank will have a rough, perhaps sharp edge, and the blank may be off-color or grainy looking, depending on what part of the coin blank processing phase it was in when it left the mint. Beware of nice, shiny looking coin blanks with no upraised rim and a smooth edge. These usually just counterfeit blanks made to deceive vending machines. Get Expert Advice About Your Blank Coin In all matters of this sort, it's best to get your blank coin looked at by an expert. You can find a local PNG Coin Dealer , or send the specimen to a specialist in minting errors for an opinion. As a third option, if you can post a photo in a coin collecting forum and describe it very carefully there, and perhaps we can provide some additional information. The Maxentian Mint at Ostia Back to menu 3. The Minting Process In the early Republic coins were cast in moulds.

The majority of coin types however were made from blanks called flans (or planchets) which were then struck between engraved dies. Flans were pieces of metal that were the correct shape, size and weight for striking into a coin. They were made in several ways - being cast individually or in strips joined by narrow pieces of metal (Plate 1). From the 3rd Century they appear to have been cut with a chisel from a bar or punched with a circular punch from a sheet of metal. Old coins could also act as flans and be overstruck to form new coins. Plate 1: Part of a mould used for the production of flans. The obverse or anvil die was held in position on an anvil. A heated flan was then held in position over the anvil die by one member of the team (the suppostor) with a pair of tongs and the malleator then struck the reverse or punch die with the hammer to stamp the coin. The reverse of a denarius of T. Carisius dated 45 BC is purported to show an anvil, hammer, tongs and wreathed reverse die, representing the tools of the mint. (Fig.

1) It could well be, however, that the reverse image is in fact the laureate pileus of Vulcan which together with the hammer, anvil and tongs appear in both Roman and Greek art representing the "smith of the gods". Fig.1: Drawing of the reverse face of a denarius of T. Carisius, dated 45 BC, showing either minting tools or the accoutrements of Vulcan. Several estimates have been made about the life of the dies and the output of the teams of suppostores and malleatores. A die could shatter on its first 'strike'. If it survived its early strikes and hardened as a result, its life depended largely on the nature of the flans. With flans of hard metals, obverse dies would probably produce about 10,000 coins, whereas with gold the figure could rise to more than 30,000. (Reverse dies came in for heavier treatment so would presumably have a shorter life than obverse dies). A good team of coin stampers have been estimated to produce around 1,000 coins per day. The patterns of die use adopted depend on the mint in question.

The simplest system would have been to use hinged dies where the obverse and reverse dies were paired for life. A painting of cupids in the House of the Vetti in Pompeii appears to suggest that hinged dies are being used in the minting process. It is difficult to know whether or not hinged dies were used at Ostia but it may not have been the method employed as only "die duplicates" would have been produced and the evidence doesn't entirely support this. Where dies were used separately, the teams would replace 'failed' dies whilst keeping the serviceable die in use. This would give rise to die use patterns such as: Obverse 1 / Reverse 1... Obverse1 / Reverse 2...Obverse 2 / Reverse 2.....Obverse 2 / Reverse 3 and at the same time "die linkage" would occur for which there is more evidence at Ostia. Whether or not there was any pattern in die use depends on how many dies an officina had in use at any particular time. If they possessed more than one and these were handed out randomly at the start of the shift by the administrator, die use patterns would be very difficult to track.

If each team were given the same pair of dies at the start of each shift, then patterns may show up. Large numbers of coins need to be studied for real evidence of these phenomena to appear. Dies were made of either bronze or iron. Few remain, as they were probably melted down at the end of their usefulness for security reasons. Any that do survive were probably stolen from the mints or are likely to be counterfeits. All dies were individually hand cut by the escalator using a burin, punch and a drill. Diamond may also have been used as it was known to have been used by the gem engravers of the day as described in Book XXXVII of Pliny's "Natural History". On a number of Imperial coins from the 3rd and 4th Centuries AD, die "centration dimples" have been found. On one example of RIC 35 minted at Ostia, such a dimple can be clearly seen in the centre of the coin. On the die, this would have taken the form of a small depression. So, what is it's function?

My suggestion is that the depression is for one of the points of a pair of compasses that were used to 'score' the part of the die where the beading was to be engraved. So, why does the dimple appear on some coins and not on others? After the beads had been engraved, the central area of the coin would be 'filled in' with the rest of the image. In RIC 35, this area contains the raised legs and hooves of the two horses which were engraved over the dimple. On the coin below, that central area is not engraved so the dimple can still be seen (Plate 2). Plate 2: Centration dimple. There is no convincing evidence that a process called hubbing took place, where a cutter would make a preliminary impression of a coin type, leaving perhaps only the officina mark to be added prior to use. One possible hub exists in Madrid but no coins stamped from this die have been found, so once again, counterfeiting is suspected. What is known is that some mints had die cutters for each individual officina, whereas others had a pool of cutters making dies for the whole mint.

The dies for both faces of the coin result in a wide range of variation in the finished product, showing the individuality of the cutters (Fig. 2). Individual coins show variations on both faces due to the operating system used in the mint. The type of coin produced would depend on the types of dies issued at the start of the shift. If dies had been kept separate outside working hours, a great deal of variation could result - security would hardly allow pairs of dies to be kept together overnight. Fig. 2: Diagram of the obverse face of a Maxentian coin showing differences in the alignment of the laurel wreath and variations in the detail of the beard. [et - 7-May-2005] What's my Error Coin worth? U.S. Error Coin Values - CoinSite CoinSite All about old coins and paper money Navigation What’s My Error Coin Worth? Prices for United States Error Coins Note: The approximate prices listed below are for the most common U.S. coin errors and have been collected from auction results, dealer buy/sell lists and standard numismatic publications. To learn how errors occur, see U.S.

Mint Error Coins Off Center Strikes Coins that have been struck outside the collar that holds the coin in place when it is struck. The coin is incorrectly centered with part of the design missing. Coin Kennedy Half Dollar (1965- 1969) $150 – $200. Morgan Dollar (1878 – 1904), 1921 $500 – $4000. Susan B. Anthony Dollar (1979-81),1999 $50 – $100 $400 – $300. Clipped Planchets (coin blanks) Coins that are incomplete due to improperly cut blanks. If the steel rod that punches out blanks overlaps a previously cut portion of the coinage strip, a clipped blank results. Values of clipped planchets depend on the coin, the type of clip and the percentage missing from what would be a normal coin. Clips are categorized as curved, straight, ragged, incomplete and elliptical. Generally the more severe and interesting the error the more valuable the coin.

Coin Tokyo Disneyland pressed pennies, 1996-1998 pressed penny collections ★ FUN Collections with a Special Focus The Tokyo Disneyland Park Pressed Penny Medal Guides Pressed Pennies from Tokyo Disneyland Park make a fun collection as well as a very large collection if you wish. The TDL collection outline talks a bit about this set, the graphical pressed penny collection guide shows how it relates to the rest of the Disneyland coins, and provide a quick overview. So, if you wish to specialize and collect only these medals or a collect all the pressed souvenirs from all the Disney Resorts in the world, it can be a lot of fun! We believe these ParkPennies Tokyo Disneyland Resort reference guides to be the complete and definative1 listing of every Tokyo Disneyland Resort pressed souvenir issued over the first fifteen years2 of Tokyo Disneyland Resort and Hotel "pressed pennies". The 15 years from 1996 to 2011 include the early years when only ParkPennies.com kept records up through the years when TDR "pressed penny" guides started to be kept online by very capable collectors in Japan.

"Early" or "Classic" pressed penny souvenirs were cataloged as they were placed onstage by the folks at ParkPennies, Robert and Anastasia Hoff. A difficult task especially over the first 10 years or so. However, with the help of fellow collectors both in Japan and the United States, this guide has been both compiled and vetted over the years. And as you can see, the medal souvenirs are divided into several sections and some sections are again divided into several pages for specialized collecting and easier attribution. Combined, ParkPennies guides feature all known on-stage Tokyo Disneyland Resort issues as well as key prototype coins issued from the first day penny press machines were placed in Tokyo Disneyland through the 15th year.

The main guide sections include the TDL guide , which includes medals pressed inside the gates of Tokyo Disneyland Park, TDR guide , which includes medals pressed in the Tokyo Disneyland Resort, but outside the gates of Tokyo Disneyland, the TDS guide , which includes medals pressed inside the newer gate of the Tokyo DisneySea Park, the TDRB guide covering the medals enclosed in the Penny Collecting Books, the TDRP guide featuring the prototype coins treasured by advanced collectors, and two Indexes, the Variations Index displays pictures linked to detail close-up pages for attribution of similar coins, and the COM page which is dedicated to the cool Coins of the Month that are currently issued at both Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. Can you believe when we started this project, there were only about a dozen Tokyo Disneyland Resort coins in total!? Around the turn of the 21st century, the number of coins issued each year began growing rapidly. From just a hand full of new coins each year to hundreds. Thankfully at that time, Kuniaki Hiraki developed web site that has benefited from his extensive knowledge of the near by Tokyo Disneyland Resort and his love of the pressed penny hobby.

Listings, images, and numbering consistent with the ParkPennies guides are updated regularly for the rapidly expanding number of TDR issued coins at his English Language TDR Medals web site. Although these Tokyo Disneyland Resort medal souvenirs are often referred to as "pressed pennies", "pressed nickels" in Japan and even "elongated coins" by some collectors, no coins were injured in their production. Tokyo Disneyland Resort Souvenir Medals are made by pressing vended planchets, also known as flans, disks, blanks, or slugs. These blanks or planchets provide a very clean, high quality Japanese elongated souvenir. They are all equal in size and appearance, and do not suffer as much from maintenance issues, governmental changes, or regulations. The vending location can also easily change the "color" of the "coins" for different events etc. At the same time, planchets also provide an enhanced level of "seigniorage" or coin pressing profits for the location owner when compared to the use of coins found in circulation which are typically pressed and then returned to the customer rather than kept by the vendor. The blank medal planchets are held inside the penny press, and then pressed to order for the collector.

Other common names for these souvenirs are flattened pennies, crushed pennies, squashed pennies, rolled pennies, mashed pennies, smashed pennies, stamped pennies, squished pennies, smushed pennies, stretched pennies, memory pennies, and keepsake pennies... or just fun! :-) The planchets used on property at The Tokyo Disneyland Resort to make "pressed pennies" are metal disks are about the size of a US nickel or Euro five-cent piece. In the park, to this date, only two kinds of planchets have been used. One standard type planchet or blank is made of solid, bare copper and the other standard type, which has not been seen much since around 2006, is also solid copper, but, with a chrome or nickel plating. In Japan, some collectors call them by the names of "penny" and "nickel" because of their color, maybe also because of the nostalgia of United States pressed coins. However, no real US or Japanese minted coins are actually pressed in the machines as they are currently in the United States.

(Note: "Off-denomination" elongated coins such as United States five cent pieces (real nickels) and United States one cent pieces (real pennies) known to have been pressed on Tokyo Disneyland Resort coin dies, are not currently listed in this guide. But, are known to exist in small numbers.) Happy Collecting, Boomer 1 Some dies, exhibiting very slight variations and known to have been onstage, are listed here also. However, not every die exhibiting a very slight variation will likely ever be discovered or listed in any guide. "Off-planchet" and "off-denomination" elongated coins such as United States five cent pieces (real nickels) and United States one cent pieces (real pennies) known to have been pressed on Tokyo Disneyland Resort coin dies, are not currently listed in this guide. Although very unlikely, if any reader has possession of a coin from this time period that is not listed in these guides, they may have it included here in our guides, with credit to them for their discovery, by contacting ParkPennies.com.

2 Kuniaki Hiraki's web site in Japan offers a very timely and complete guide to coins beyond the first 15 years including the standard collector guide numbers with web sites in both Japanese and English. Kuniaki's contributions to the hobby are most generous. We hope you will support his efforts. 1996 Tokyo Disneyland Park "Pressed Pennies" TDL Penny Guide Pages Pieces of eight (Pepys' Diary) Pieces of eight This text was copied from Wikipedia on 19 January 2017 at 3:22PM. Spanish dollars Silver 8 real coin of Philip V of Spain , 1739 Reverse VTRAQVE VNUM M[EXICO] 1739 "Both (are) one, Mexico [City Mint], 1739" Displays two hemispheres of a world map, crowned between the Pillars of Hercules adorned with the PLVS VLTR[A] motto.

Obverse PHILIP[PUS] V D[EI] G[RATIA] HISPAN[IARUM] ET IND[IARUM] REX "Philip V, by the Grace of God, King of the Spains and the Indies" Silver 8 real coin of Ferdinand VI of Spain , 1753 Reverse VTRAQVE VNUM M[EXICO] 1753 M "Both (are) one, Mexico [City Mint], 1753." Displays two hemispheres of a world map, crowned between the Pillars of Hercules adorned with the PLVS VLT[R]A motto. Obverse FERD[INA]ND[US] VI D[EI] G[RATIA] HISPAN[IARUM] ET IND[IARUM] REX "Ferdinand VI, by the Grace of God, King of the Spains and the Indies" Displays the arms of Castile and León with Granada in base and an inescutcheon of Anjou .

Silver 8 real coin of Charles III of Spain , 1776 Obverse CAROLUS III DEI GRATIA 1776 "Charles III by the Grace of God, 1776" Right profile of Charles III in toga with laurel wreath. Reverse HISPAN[IARUM] ET IND[IARUM] REX M[EXICO] 8 R[EALES] F M "King of the Spains and the Indies, Mexico [City Mint], 8 reales" Crowned Spanish arms between the Pillars of Hercules adorned with PLVS VLTRA motto. Silver 8 real coin of King Charles IV of Spain , 1806 Obverse CAROLUS IIII DEI GRATIA 1806 "Charles IV by the Grace of God, 1806." Right profile of Charles IV in soldier's dress with laurel wreath. It was under the reign of this monarch that the last series of Spanish dollars were struck before the United States Mint began the U.S. silver dollar in 1794.

Reverse HISPAN[IARUM] ET IND[IARUM] REX M[EXICO] 8 R[EALES] T H"King of the Spains and the Indies, Mexico [City Mint], 8 Reales." Crowned Spanish arms between the Pillars of Hercules adorned with PLVS VLTRA motto. Silver 8 real coin of Ferdinand VII of Spain , 1821 Obverse FERDIN[ANDUS] VII DEI GRATIA 1821"Ferdinand VII by the Grace of God, 1821." Right profile of Ferdinand VII with cloak and laurel wreath. Reverse HISPAN[IARUM] ET IND[IARUM] REX M[EXICO] 8 R[EALES] I I"King of the Spains and the Indies, Mexico [City Mint], 8 reales." Crowned Spanish arms between the Pillars of Hercules adorned with PLVS VLTRA motto.

The real de a ocho, also known as the Spanish dollar, the eight-real coin, or the piece of eight (Spanish peso de ocho), is a silver coin , of approximately 38 mm diameter, worth eight reales , that was minted in the Spanish Empire after 1598. Its purpose was to correspond to the German thaler . The Spanish dollar was widely used by many countries as the first international currency because of its uniformity in standard and milling characteristics. Some countries countersigned the Spanish dollar so it could be used as their local currency. [1] The Spanish dollar was the coin upon which the original United States dollar was based, and it remained legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of 1857 . Because it was widely used in Europe, the Americas, and the Far East, it became the first world currency by the late 18th century. [2] [3] Aside from the U.S. dollar, several other currencies, such as the Canadian dollar , the Japanese yen , the Chinese yuan , the Philippine peso , and several currencies in the rest of the Americas, were initially based on the Spanish dollar and other 8-real coins.

Diverse theories link the origin of the "$" symbol to the columns and stripes that appear on one side of the Spanish dollar. [4] The term peso was used in Spanish to refer to this denomination, and it became the basis for many of the currencies in the former Spanish colonies, including the Argentine , Bolivian , Chilean , Colombian , Costa Rican , Cuban , Dominican , Ecuadorian , Guatemalan , Honduran , Mexican , Nicaraguan , Paraguayan , Philippine , Puerto Rican , Peruvian , Salvadoran , Uruguayan , and Venezuelan pesos. Millions of Spanish dollars were minted over the course of several centuries. They were among the most widely circulating coins of the colonial period in the Americas, and were still in use in North America and in South-East Asia in the 19th century. Contents History Etymology of "dollar" In the 16th century, Count Hieronymus Schlick of Bohemia began minting coins known as Joachimsthalers (from German thal, modern spelling Tal, "valley", cognate with " dale " in English), named for Joachimsthal , the valley in the Ore Mountains where the silver was mined (St.

Joachim's Valley, now Jáchymov ; then part of the Holy Roman Empire , now part of the Czech Republic). [5] Joachimstaler was later shortened to taler, a word that eventually found its way into Norwegian, Danish and Swedish as daler, Russian as талер, Czech and Slovene as tolar, Polish as talar, Dutch as daalder, Amharic as talari, Hungarian as tallér, Italian as tallero, Greek as taliro (τάληρο), Spanish talero and English as dollar. [5] The Joachimsthalers weighed 451 Troy grains (29.2 g) of silver. So successful were these coins that similar thalers were minted in Burgundy and France. The Burgundian Cross Thaler depicted the Cross of Burgundy and was prevalent in the Burgundian Netherlands that were revolting against the Spanish king and Duke of Burgundy Philip II . After 1575, the Dutch revolting provinces replaced the currency with a daalder depicting a lion, hence its Dutch name leeuwendaalder.

Specifically to facilitate export trade, the leeuwendaalder was authorized to contain 427.16 grains of .750 fine silver, lighter than the large denomination coins then in circulation. Clearly it was more advantageous for a Dutch merchant to pay a foreign debt in leeuwendaalders rather than in other heavier, more costly coins. Thus, the leeuwendaalder or lion dollar became the coin of choice for foreign trade. It became popular in the Middle East, and colonies in the east and west. They also circulated throughout the English colonies during the Seventeenth and early Eighteenth centuries. From New Netherland (New York) the lion dollar spread to all thirteen colonies in the west. English speakers began to apply the word "dollar" also to the Spanish peso or "piece of eight" by 1581, which was also widely used in the British North American colonies at the time of the American Revolution, hence adopted as the name and weight of the US monetary unit in the late 18th century.

[6] [7] [8] Spain After the introduction of the Guldengroschen in Austria in 1486, the concept of a large silver coin with high purity (sometimes known as "specie" coinage) eventually spread throughout the rest of Europe. Monetary reform in Spain brought about the introduction of an 8-real coin in 1497. In 1537 the Spanish escudo gold coin was introduced, which was worth 16 reales. The later Gold Doubloon was worth 32 reales or 2 escudos. It is this divisibility into 8 which caused the silver coins to be named "pieces of eight". A silver Spanish 8-Reales coin minted in México c. 1650 In the following centuries, the coin was minted with several different designs at various mints in Spain and the New World , having gained wide acceptance beyond Spain's borders. Thanks to the vast silver deposits that were found mainly in Potosí in modern-day Bolivia and to a lesser extent in Mexico (for example, at Taxco Zacatecas ), and to silver from Spain's possessions throughout the Americas, mints in Mexico and Peru also began to strike the coin.

The main New World mints for Spanish dollars were at Potosí, Lima , and Mexico City (with minor mints at Bogotá , Popayán , Guatemala City , and Santiago ), and silver dollars from these mints could be distinguished from those minted in Spain by the Pillars of Hercules design on the reverse. In the 19th century, the coin's denomination was changed to 20 reales (based on 20 reales de vellón) and finally 2 escudos. Spain's adoption of the peseta in 1869 and its joining the Latin Monetary Union meant the effective end of the last vestiges of the Spanish dollar in Spain itself. However, the 5-peseta coin (or duro) was slightly smaller and lighter but was also of high purity (90%) silver. In the 1990s, commemorative 2000-peseta coins were minted, similar in size and weight to the 8 reales and also with high fineness. Mexico Following independence in 1821, Mexican coinage of silver reales and gold escudos followed that of Spanish lines until decimalization and the introduction of the peso.

The Mexican 8-reales coin (eventually becoming a 1-peso coin) continued to be a popular international trading coin throughout the 19th century. After 1918, the peso was reduced in size and fineness, with further reductions in the 1940s and 1950s. However, 2- (1921), 5- (1947) and 10- (1955) peso coins were minted during the same period with sizes and fineness similar to the old peso. Ireland and British colonies The term cob was used in Ireland and the British colonies to mean a piece of eight or a Spanish-American dollar, because Spanish-American gold and silver coins were irregularly shaped and crudely struck during this period. The ends of bars or "cabos de barra" which the term "cob" came about were cut/sliced off bullion rods as planchets (flan) which are round metal disks used as blanks which were to be stamped into coins.

Australia After the colony of New South Wales was founded in Australia in 1788, it ran into the problem of a lack of coinage, particularly since trading vessels took coins out of the colony in exchange for their cargo. In 1813, Governor Lachlan Macquarie made creative use of £10,000 in Spanish dollars sent by the British government. To make it difficult to take the coins out of the colony, and to double their number, the centres of the coins were punched out. The punched centre, known as the "dump", was valued at 15 pence , and the outer rim, known as the " holey dollar ", was worth five shillings . This was indicated by over-stamping the two new coins. The obverse of the holey dollar was stamped the words "New South Wales" and the date, 1813, and the reverse with the words "fifteen shillings". The obverse of the dump was stamped with a crown, the words "New South Wales" and the date, 1813, and the reverse with the words "fifteen pence".

The mutilated coins became the first official currency produced specifically for circulation in Australia. [9] The expedient was relatively short lived. The British Parliament passed the Sterling Silver Money Act in 1825, which made British coins the only recognised form of currency and ended any legitimate use of the holey dollar and dump in the Australian colonies. [10] United States The Coinage Act of 1792 created the United States Mint , but the first U.S. dollars were not as popular as the Spanish dollars, which were heavier and were made of finer silver. Indeed: By far the leading specie coin circulating in America was the Spanish silver dollar, defined as consisting of 387 grains of pure silver. The dollar was divided into "pieces of eight," or "bits," each consisting of one-eighth of a dollar. Spanish dollars came into the North American colonies through lucrative trade with the West Indies. The Spanish silver dollar had been the world's outstanding coin since the early 16th century, and was spread partially by dint of the vast silver output of the Spanish colonies in Latin America.

More important, however, was that the Spanish dollar, from the 16th to the 19th century, was relatively the most stable and least debased coin in the Western world. [11] An eight-real coin nominally weighed 550.209 Spanish grains, which is 423.900 troy/avoirdupois grains (0.883125 troy ounces or 27.468 grams), 0.93055 fine, so contained 0.821791 troy ounces (25.561 g) or 394.460 grains fine silver. Its weight and purity varied significantly between mints and over the centuries. In contrast, the Coinage Act of 1792 specified that the U.S. dollar would contain 371 4⁄16 grain (24.1 g) pure or 416 grain (27.0 g) standard silver. This specification was based on the average weight of a random selection of worn Spanish dollars which Alexander Hamilton caused to be weighed at the Treasury.

The coins had a nominal value of eight reales ("royals"). Before the American Revolution , owing to British mercantilist policies, there was a chronic shortage of British currency in Britain's colonies. Trade was often conducted with Spanish dollars that had been obtained through illicit trade with the West Indies . Spanish coinage was legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of 1857 discontinued the practice. The pricing of equities on U.S. stock exchanges in 1⁄8-dollar denominations persisted until the New York Stock Exchange converted first to pricing in sixteenths of a dollar on 24 June 1997, and shortly after that, to decimal pricing. Asia 1888 Mexican 8 Real coin with Chinese "chop" marks Long tied to the lore of piracy , "pieces of eight" were manufactured in the Americas and transported in bulk back to Spain, making them a very tempting target for seagoing pirates. The Manila galleons transported Mexican silver to Manila in the Spanish Philippines , where it would be exchanged for Philippine and Chinese goods, since silver was the only foreign commodity China would accept.

In Oriental trade, Spanish dollars were often stamped with Chinese characters known as "chop marks" which indicated that particular coin had been assayed by a well-known merchant and determined to be genuine. The specifications of the Spanish dollar became a standard for trade in the Far East, with later Western powers issuing trade dollars , and colonial currencies such as the Hong Kong dollar , to the same specifications. The first Chinese yuan coins had the same specification as a Spanish dollar, leading to a continuing equivalence in some respects between the names "yuan" and "dollar" in the Chinese language. Fiction In modern pop culture and fiction, "Pieces of Eight" are most often associated with the popular notion of pirates . Fictional portrayals In Robert Louis Stevenson 's Treasure Island , Long John Silver 's parrot had apparently been trained to cry out, "Pieces of eight!" This use tied the coin (and parrots) to fictional depictions of pirates . Deriving from the wide popularity of this book, "Pieces of eight" is sometimes used to mean "money" or "a lot of money", regardless of specific denomination.

In Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End the Pirate Lords must meet together by presenting the "Nine Pieces of Eight", since these Pieces were used to seal the goddess Calypso in her human form by the first Brethren Court. As the Pirate Lords were, at the time of sealing Calypso into her human form, too poor to offer real Spanish dollars, they opted to use personal talismans instead, except for the "ninth piece of eight" ( Jack Sparrow 's), which was an actual piece of eight that is hanging off his bandana in all movies. In Neal Stephenson 's The Baroque Cycle numismatics, gold and pieces of eight are an integral part of the plot. In Daniel Defoe 's Robinson Crusoe , Pieces of Eight are also mentioned among the types of currency that the title character encounters. Pieces of eight are the currency used in the video game Puzzle Pirates and in the Monkey Island game series. Pieces of Eight is the eighth studio album and second concept album by Styx , released on 1 September 1978. See also Pieces of Eight…Morgan’s raid on Portobelo.

(Summary from Pope’s Biography of Morgan) When Morgan returned to Jamaica he brought 250,000 pieces of eight and other merchandise. Pieces of eight were legal currency in Jamaica and valued at 5 shillings. Each seaman received £60 and the King’s share was £600. (The King’s share was kept to repair the fortifications at Port Royal). 250,000 equalled £62,500, and because of the changes in value since 1668, to understand the value it is best to compare other values and costs. It compares favourably with the value of London’s entire export to “all” the Plantations being £107,000. Three times the customs paid in 1676-7 by Barbados, Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, St.Kitts and Anguilla being £20,700. It was almost exactly a tenth of the year's exports from the Plantations to England being £605,000. ✹

Question: Planchets, flans and blanks are synonyms for pieces of metal used to make?
Answer: Coins