...the design for the tokens had to be approved by someone...then the dies for their production would be made like those for coins...Spark
No offense taken, I'm not quite that green. I didn't know it was from a mint set though - I thought it was most likely to be a souvenir from e.g. visiting the mint, much like the "Strike Your Own" 50ps you can get from our Royal Mint. It is, essentially, the US equivalent of this.