Lots of early coins (up to the early 1800s), were hammered and were often not perfectly round. English coinage did not become a perfect circle until the 1790s. Which country had the 1st perfectly round coinage?
Well, I don't have facts back to my statement, but I think China accomplished well round coin between 250 BC to 200 BC. I always knew China people are perfectionist even since they existed on Earth. I would bet China is winner for round coins. Again, it's my opinion.
greeks. 100 ad. they could have made round coins before then but it is hard to say because coins get damaged after being buried in dirt for thousands of years.
That's a very good question, and I have to admit I don't know. In order to be perfectly round the coin would have to be struck in a collar. (key word is "perfectly") The chinese cash coins could come close as their molds could be perfectly round, but you would have the casting spruce or possible irregularities from where it is ground off. Perfectly round planchets could be made and used for hand striking or coins struck without a close collar but due to irregular expansion during the strike these would not be perfectly round either. So the real question is which country was the first one to use a close collar for striking? I know they had it in Great Britian for the token coinages in the 1780's, but I don't know if anyone else had it earlier. (The US didn't have it til 1828)
Not sure if we can find a precise date here. One important factor, I think, was the technology developed by Jean-Pierre Droz, a Swiss medal and coin maker who worked in France and Britain. Here is one of his works http://www.bmagic.org.uk/objects/1969N642 - another one is the "écu de Calonne" (named after the French finance minister). But Droz's technology was at that time not adopted for general coin production ... Christian
The question assumed that a "country" had the first perfectly round coins. In fact, it was the private Soho Mint that invented the coining press collar and the first customers were merchants needing tokens for small change. See Soho Mint website here. (See also, "The Birmingham Button Makers" by George Selgin for the complete history of Matthew Boulton and James Watt's Soho Mint.) 1790. That is why the "Provincial tokens" (merchant tokens; "Conder" tokens) of the 1790s had edge inscriptions and were perfectly round. Also, as Conder101 noted the US Mint adopted similar tools about 50 years later, for the strikings of 1828-1829. However, I found a Google Books Link (books.google.com/books?id=RAwpAAAAYAAJ) for a "Mechanics Magazine" from 1825 that describes the closed collar coining press. So, this was common technology when the Mint adopted it. And, just to check, the Decus et Tutamen crowns of Charles II were edged first "by a secret process" and those planchets then delivered to the Mint for striking by machinery, though without a collar. All of that being as it may, I am still digging because I think that some French engineer developed a similar technique earlier...
France was the first country to adopt the minting of milled coins. They did this in 1643. Other countries of the world eventually followed their lead.
Striking milled coins, and striking coins in a close collar are not the same thing. My impression was that Droz's innovation was the segmented collar that allowed for a lettered or ornamented edge to be struck at the same time as the faces, and that was what would not work with the technology of the day. A plain or reeded close collar would have been a much more technologically simpler problem to implement and what Boulton did. The question is did anyone else do so earlier? A close collar does not require a steam press and can be used on a standard screw press as well.
I did not realized they made any conder/conder tokens with lettered edges, would like to see some. Also, someone said something about a diamond shaped shilling, did such a coin exist?
Is this what you're looking for? http://museumvictoria.com.au/collec...ing-charles-i-newark-seige-great-britain-1646 I simply highlighted "diamond shaped shilling" from your post, googled it, and voila... just like magic!
I don't know, maybe. But the question was which country had the first round coins. The answer to that is France as they were the first country to change the minting process over to milled coinage. And yes, those coins were minted by using a collar. Now whether that was a close collar or a segmented collar, that I cannot say with any certainty. But since the coins had reeded edges and there are no noticeable breaks, I suspect it was a close collar. And France was also the first country to ever strike a milled coin. They struck milled testoons in 1553.
