The earliest forms of currency would have been rings or other ornaments made from precious materials such as gold or silver. The first recorded mass production of coins was in the early Greek civilization, around the 7th century BC. They were cast from molten metals into a mould and were rarely uniform. The process developed into punching the face and reverse sides of coins, using bullet-shaped or conical blanks and striking with a hammer on an anvil. The blank would have been made red hot in a forge and struck between two dies. It takes a great deal of power and skill to make good quality coins like this! Today, of course, coins are mass-produced but here at Botanicus, where we have our own currency (“Grosch”) in the craft village, you can see coins being made – and you can try striking a coin in the old-fashioned way yourself, and see some of the ancient coins in our display.
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