Hammered Coins
A hammered coin is a coin that was made by hand using a hammer to strike a blank piece of metal between two die. The dies contained the design for each side of the coin, with the head of the monarch or emperor usually on one side. The other side would have the coin’s denomination and other designs.
Hammered coins were produced from around 600 AD until 1662. The process was largely unchanged until the introduction of mechanised coin minting in the late medieval period.
Here are some characteristics of hammered coins
Unique
No two hammered coins are exactly the same due to the manual nature of the process. Inscriptions may be off-center, double-struck, or incorrect.
Difficult to produce uniform coins
The manufacturing process made it difficult to produce coins of a regular diameter and weight.
Vulnerable to clipping & sweating
Unscrupulous people would remove slivers of precious metal, and silver coins would be placed in bags that were shaken to produce silver dust.