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A Rare Look Inside The U.S. Mint In Philadelphia

By Pat Loeb

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- After a six-month renovation, the tour of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia re-opened to the public on Tuesday. KYW Newsradio's Pat Loeb got a behind-the-scenes look at Mint operations.

The largest Mint in the world covers a square city block near Independence Mall and turns out 30-million coins a day.

The process begins with artists like Joe Menna, sculpting designs in plaster.

"We're the people responsible for all the designs that make their way on to U.S. coins," Menna points out.

Play or download the full Mint Tour podcast (runs 5:08)…

 

Their models are digitized and sent to engraver Jerry Burdsall.

"I will program these machines to etch a positive image of that artwork into a reduction hub," Burdsall says.

mint tour
(A CNC -- computer numerically controlled -- machine converts 8 inch digitzed images of coins to coin-sized hubs, used to make the dies that actually stamp the coins) (credit: Pat Loeb)

 

The hubs are used to make the dyes that actually stamp the coins. But first those dyes are polished by machines operated by Dave Puglia.

"It is absolutely critical that we do not polish out or eliminate any of the detail on that dye," says Puglia.

mint tour
(A machine that punches blanks on the production floor.)

 

Then it's on to the production floor where machines punch blanks out of rolled sheets of metal and others stamp on the design and dump them into canvas bags that go to banks -- and ultimately, into your pocket.

mint tour
(nickels get funneled into bank bag.)

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