[HN Gopher] Process for mass producing Japanese 500 yen coins
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       Process for mass producing Japanese 500 yen coins
        
       Author : geox
       Score  : 22 points
       Date   : 2023-11-25 16:16 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (theawesomer.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (theawesomer.com)
        
       | netsharc wrote:
       | Man, 60fps and the shaky hand while panning/zooming (and it's a
       | lot of those things) make this a motion-sickness-inducing video.
       | 
       | But slowing it to 0.75x seems to work.
        
       | nlh wrote:
       | Ah ha now we're speaking my language! :)
       | 
       | Fun fact: "Mint" condition coins actually are measured on a
       | 10-point scale (from 60 to 70...because...reasons...as part of a
       | broader 70-point scale also because reasons).
       | 
       | In the video, note how the finished coins are unceremoniously
       | ejected into a big bin straight after striking. During that
       | process, many of the coins get little nicks and bumps and
       | scratches. This has been the way for hundreds of years.
       | 
       | Because of this, most of the mass-production coins out there are
       | far from perfect. So even among a group of coins literally hot
       | off the presses, truly perfect ones (graded 70) are super hard to
       | find. In the world of vintage coins (non-modern era - generally
       | pre-1900), perfect 70s simply don't exist, and 69s go for
       | $hundreds of thousands (or $millions).
       | 
       | This is different for modern coins, particularly for issues where
       | the mints are marketing them specifically for collectors. 70s are
       | easy to find. But for the true workhorse mass-market coins,
       | perfection is not the norm.
        
         | TacticalCoder wrote:
         | > But for the true workhorse mass-market coins, perfection is
         | not the norm.
         | 
         | Yup, I was very disappointed with the video in TFA.
         | 
         | Here's a proper factory minting a proper coin:
         | 
         | https://youtu.be/sM4lyJdCO_E
        
       | notpushkin wrote:
       | [video]
        
       | runj__ wrote:
       | 500 yen coins really do have a weight to them, they feel valuable
       | and can almost buy you a proper lunch. It's a shame most vending
       | machines and subway ticket dispensers only accept the old 500 yen
       | coin though.
        
       | blamazon wrote:
       | Of potential interest, the source YouTube channel is prolific and
       | covers many Japanese manufacturing processes:
       | https://youtube.com/@processx
        
       | beAbU wrote:
       | This video came up in my yt feed a couple of days ago. I watched
       | the rice cooker video that was also hn front page a few weeks
       | back. And now The Algorithm thinks I like Japanese undustrial
       | manufacturing videos. I'm not complaining.
       | 
       | The thing that confused me though: why punch out the middle, only
       | to put it back in again? It doesn't look like they're made from
       | dissimilar metals like Euros?
        
         | frud wrote:
         | Some are made from dissimilar metals. https://www.coin-
         | database.com/series/japan-47-prefectures-co...
        
       | kazinator wrote:
       | I carry one of these things. I sometimes use it for shopping
       | cards that normally take Canadian loonies ($1 coins).
        
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       (page generated 2023-11-27 23:00 UTC)