Stainless steel coins?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by BronzeAge, Jun 26, 2021.

  1. BronzeAge

    BronzeAge Member

    Because copper turns brown then green, silver turns milky white then black, cupronickel turns a darker grey, and bronze/brass even turns weird colors, but stainless steel cutlery doesn't tarnish, even after 40 years, why aren't coins made of stainless?
    I
    actually a lot cheaper, too. Heck out commodities prices:

    https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/neodymium
     

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  3. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    My initial thought is that stainless is a very hard metal and would be a real punishment for the striking dies. That being said, I have long admired Brazil coins struck in stainless.
     
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  4. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    I have tried to fashion hand tools in my shop from stainless. Lordy that is some hard stuff. I am like @Kentucky and think the material is just too difficult to work with.
     
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  5. BronzeAge

    BronzeAge Member

    Good point. Sport bikes have stainless brake rotors, tougher than nails. (Mild stainless, probably only 5% to 7% chromium.)
     
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  6. TheGame

    TheGame Well-Known Member

    A few countries have tried it. Brazil as mentioned, India has used it for a few decades now, Italy used it a good bit pre-euro as well. They hold up very well in circulation, but die life would probably be a concern.
     
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  7. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    They were, in 1943 cents were steel and they rusted.
     
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  8. Oldhoopster

    Oldhoopster Member of the ANA since 1982

    Steel and stainless steel are not the same. Stainless has chrome and other elements that keep it from rusting.

    You're correct, 1943 cents were made from zinc coated steel planchets, however the were not stainless steel
     
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  9. Publius2

    Publius2 Well-Known Member

    I would suspect that pretty much any 300 grade of stainless would be very rough on standard modern minting machinery. The punches, dies, etc. would wear very much quicker than normal and would be subject to much more chipping. Also, if you've ever tried to drill 300-grade stainless, you know that it will work-harden. I suspect that annealing it back to softer might be more involved than the traditional alloys.

    Then there is the whole business of cleaning alloys that contain chromium. Acid rinses and the like can release chromium compounds that are very toxic, so that entire part of the minting process might have to be changed.

    So, lots of problems associated with SS for coinage and little to no benefit that I can discern.
     
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  10. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    See what happens when you miss one word? One little word-stainless? I think that would use up a die very quickly.
     
  11. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

    A survey of recent stainless steel coinage from India suggest that they can only work it with low relief designs and die life isn't the greatest.
     
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  12. Jeffjay

    Jeffjay Well-Known Member

    They would have to make the dies out of tungsten.
     
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  13. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    I just ordered 4 2019 coins from India, and the seller apologized for the terrible job the mint did that year. Haven't got them yet, I'll post when I get them. Does anyone else know where I could buy a set of 2019 circulating Indian coins?
     
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  14. BronzeAge

    BronzeAge Member

    With post-covid inflation, it looks like stainless is the only metal we can use to make a nickel cheaper than its melt value. It was 7.5 cents at one point this past Spring.

    Even a zinc penny was 0.8 cents that same week.

    Can you coat steel with copper? I think Canada has had steel cores for the other three coins since 2000 and quit using zinc cores in 2012.
     
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  15. BronzeAge

    BronzeAge Member

    Tungsten die, and heat up the SS blank?

    I'm thinking inconel, and use heat on the SS blank. Inconel maintains it's strength at high temperatures like tungsten does.

    Then there's always titanium. It's good enough for the SR-71 and it's high temperature flights.
     
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  16. TheGame

    TheGame Well-Known Member

    You can. Canada made steel cents (actually copper-plated nickel-plated steel) from 2002 on, and many other countries have done copper-plated steel, most notably the British 1p and 2p and 1-5 euro cent coins.
     
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  17. Kevin Mader

    Kevin Mader Fellow Coin Enthusiast Supporter

    As noted by folks, hardness plays a factor and affects the ability to coin. Steel is typically softer than SS so easier to coin. The expense to anneal/harden SS would make things even less economical I suppose.
     
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  18. Scuba4fun777

    Scuba4fun777 Well-Known Member

    Speaking of high temperatures and titanium, it is almost the 4th of July :)
    https://pyrodata.com/compositions/Fountain-4
     
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  19. Mr.Q

    Mr.Q Well-Known Member

    Copper coated toilet paper would be better than the Zincoln crap we make.
     
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  20. Mountain Man

    Mountain Man Supporter! Supporter

    Going through my 10 pounds of world coins, I'm finding quite a few stainless steel coins and many were minted in Canada for small countries, so they must have figured out how to use it without too much damage to the equipment.
     
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  21. Cheech9712

    Cheech9712 Every thing is a guess

    All the dimes and cents would look the same
     
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