1. Why does the mint make coins out of a "sandwich". Most CuNi coins I see are a pure blend, hence not being able to see a copper and nickel layer on the edge. 2. How come when you flip a coin over, the reverse is upside down? Why not mint it, so when you turn the coin over, the reverse is correct?
1. I don't know, tradition? 2. You're doing it wrong. Don't flip it side to side, flip it top to bottom.
I don't know what coins you are seeing, but as a general rule the exact opposite of what you are saying is true. With most clad coins you can easily see a copper layer and 2 copper/nickel layers when you look at the edge. Yes, there are some where that is not the case. But those examples are the exception and not the rule. And the reason you cannot see the layers on those examples is because the copper/nickel layers have been pushed down over the copper layer and cover up the copper layer.
1. That's the way it's done. 2. That's the way it's done. If you want it to work your way maybe it's time to collect some medals.
1. When the mint went away from silver, they had a lot of expectations they had to meet. Two of the main ones is keep coins being accepted in vending machines, and also keep the same color. The way they discovered how to do this was put a lot of copper in the coin for conductivity, but copper is not silver colored, so they layered it in a silver metal mixture. Basically its that way to let the coin work in vending machines but still look "silver". 2. Coins historically were flipped end over end, so this way the reverse, when doing that, would be right side up. Medals, (think of wearing one on yoru chest), have to be flipped side to side, hence its orientation.
Or collect pretty much any coin that is (a) modern, ie. made in the past couple of years, and (b) not from the US. Christian
