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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtis, post: 24867944, member: 26430&quot;]Most coins and planchets never had one because this process was only used at certain mints. (Different mints often produced flans in radically different ways; even the same mint at different times.) So the vast majority of unstruck flans never had them. (Judaean flans, e.g., usually have a protrusion at the center on one side.)</p><p><br /></p><p>But if you mean unstruck <i>Ptolemaic</i> flans (i.e., after 260 BCE) specifically, to my knowledge they&#039;re very rare and only a few are known. (I don&#039;t have the Lorber books though; she may report more.)</p><p><br /></p><p>A few known examples are reported by:</p><blockquote><p>Faucher, T. 2017. ‘<a href="https://www.academia.edu/37598729/Coin_Minting_Techniques_in_Ptolemaic_Egypt_Observe_Analyze_Recreate_Notae_Numismaticae_2017_p_71_90" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.academia.edu/37598729/Coin_Minting_Techniques_in_Ptolemaic_Egypt_Observe_Analyze_Recreate_Notae_Numismaticae_2017_p_71_90" rel="nofollow">Coin Minting Techniques in Ptolemaic Egypt: Observe, Analyze, Recreate</a>’. <i>Notae Numismaticae</i>, XII. pp. 71-90.</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s not well-illustrated &amp; I need to re-read it, but I recall that it sounded like rough central dimples may have been part of the original planchet cast, which would mean they were there from the start on unstruck Ptolemaic planchets (at least the ones that ever had them). The rotation would&#039;ve then altered their shape once actually put to use on the polishing lathe.</p><p><br /></p><p>From their placement around the coin, it&#039;s clear that other mints only added the dimple <i>after</i> the flan was created (but still before the striking process, so the blank flan could be polished). Such as the Moesian and other Balkan ones above (e.g. the Gordian &amp; Tranquilina types).</p><p><br /></p><p>The goal was definitely NOT to polish/lathe the surface down until the dimple was gone. (I&#039;m not sure how that would even be possible since the dimple is how the pin holds it on the lathe/wheel, and the more you spin/polish, the deeper the pin digs into the hole.)</p><p><br /></p><p>The dimple would sometimes be obliterated when the coin was finally struck, but that was almost incidental. The mint-masters don&#039;t seem to have particularly minded them being there, since they&#039;re ubiquitous on some types.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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