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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2945020, member: 19463&quot;]It is never safe to refer to the ancient peoples as &#039;they&#039;.&nbsp; They were individuals who did things their way and did not realize &#039;they&#039; were going to be lumped together into one group following one set of rules.&nbsp; Most flans were cast but the video only shows one of several possible techniques which we can reverse engineer from the coins.&nbsp; Some molds were open face on top; some two piece.&nbsp; Some were trimmed and adjusted individually (but not using the power tools seen in the video) while others were struck on blanks that were still attached by sprues.&nbsp; It only makes sense that blanks for precious metal coins would be produced with more attention to detail than bronzes.&nbsp; One thing that seems pretty consistent in ancient mints is that an effort was made not to spend more making the coin than the coin was worth.&nbsp; Who knows how much the US mint spends to make a 2017 Lincoln cent?&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>We warn beginners of such things as casting seams because so many tourist grade fakes have them but in doing so we create a monster with people thinking they know all they need to know to separate the real from the fake.&nbsp; Still we have had people asking if their coin is real when it has a stamp &#039;copy&#039; on the surface.&nbsp; There are many artifacts on coins that give clues how they were made but one important skill is to learn which ones are normal for which coins.&nbsp; I wrote a page which probably tells 1% of what you need to know to be half dangerous on the subject of flan preparation.&nbsp;&nbsp; I regret if it causes harm by making people think they know more.</p><p><a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/fabric.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/fabric.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/fabric.html</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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