US Mint issues curved coin

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by Björn Schöpe

December 19, 2013 – During the last years mints have tried to reinvent coins even if they had to face considerable technical problems. In spring 2013 e.g. the Mint of Poland presented a coin with a ‘third side’, a cylinder-shaped coin.
In the previous year the Royal Australian Mint had issued a curved coin which emphasised by the form its motif (the dome of the sky showing the Southern Cross).

The new silver coin. © US Mint.

Now the US Mint has caught up with this. For spring 2014 a commemorative coin is scheduled which will be dedicated to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The convex obverse depicts a baseball while the concave reverse shows a ball, both covering the sides completely.
The research department has apparently worked on this issue since some time but according to a statement 90 per cent of all problems they had to face were related to the copper-nickel clad half dollar. And it seems that prolonging the dies’ lifetime was also a particular challenge.
In 2014 production will start, in the first months of the year the mint will take orders. Up to 50,000 $5 gold coins, 400,000 $1 silver coins and 750,000 copper-nickel clad half dollar coins will be minted.

You can read a detailed article on this subject here.

All details of these new coins are available on the website of the US Mint.

In case you are interested in baseball you will certainly know already the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

CoinsWeekly reported on the curved Australian coin.

And you will find also an article on the Polish coin with its ‘third side’ on CoinsWeekly.