So this flat piece of metal was recently minted by the newly commissioned Amtrak Mint, featuring the Pacific Surfliner Train #1777/777 northbound through Montecito, CA at ~5:45pm daily. Planchet: random date sacrificial zincoln (U.S. Cent) Hammer Die: east side train wheels Anvil Die: train track This side: Other side (coin turn): Press (southbound operating mode):
You mentioned the hammer die was *plural* train wheels. So I have to know. Once one wheel travels over a cent on a track, do the other wheels that follow make it compress more or does the first wheel do all the work. Just trying to understand the minting process.
Good question! lol I don't know the answer because I have never watched it. I've left about a dozen coins on the tracks at this location over the years and have never been able to recover a single coin until a few days ago (I placed 3 pennies on the track and only found 1). I'm guessing the coins stick to a wheel (whether it is the first or subsequent ones) and then fall off later, having been repeatedly squished. The one I found had only traveled a foot or two. One of the world's greatest mysteries.
Neat. Looks like the dime flipped and got struck at least twice by wheels. The other ones seem to have been struck and quickly thrown onto the ground.
Dude got all of his coins back on the first try. Coastertrains Productions is gonna be in the running for best short documentary at the oscars, you watch.
In my experience, more often than not, the coin gets squished by the wheel and then goes flying! I used to do this with my grandpa when I was a kid.
The soft metal of a zinc cent does allow for some expansion if it is hit enough times. I have ~40 railroad flat coins and this one has the greatest size increase of them all.
