HOW COINS ARE PRODUCED

There are six stages in the production of US Mint coins. Every coin is blanked, annealed, upset, struck, inspected, and finally, counted and bagged.

Step 1: Blanking: The US Mint buys strips of metal that are approximately 13 inches wide and 1,500 feet long to manufacture the nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, and dollar coins. The strips come rolled in a coil. Each coil is fed through a blanking press that punches out round discs called blanks. The leftover strip, called webbing, is shredded and recycled. To manufacture pennies, the Mint buys ready made planchets after supplying fabricators with copper and zinc.

Step 2: Annealing, Washing and Drying: The blanks are heated in an annealing furnace to soften them and then run through a washer and dryer.

Step 3: Upsetting: The blanks go through an upsetting mill that raises a rim around their edges and turns the blanks into planchets.

Step 4: Striking: The planchets go to the coining press where they are stamped with the designs and inscriptions that make them genuine United States legal tender coins.

Step 5: Inspection: A press operator uses a magnifying glass to spot check each batch of new coins.

Step 6: Counting and Bagging: An automatic counting machine counts the coins and drops them into bags. The bags are sealed, loaded on pallets, and taken by forklifts to be stored. New coins are shipped by truck to Federal Reserve Banks. From there, the coins go to your local bank.

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