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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 1471933, member: 68&quot;]Ironically it was likely the testimony before Congress of a representative of the vending industry that led to clad coinage.&nbsp; Congress primarily wanted a metal that would fool the public into believing there was no change and that would work in vending machines.&nbsp; In those days vending was a large part of the economy because coins could buy almost any small product.&nbsp; After many years of inflation we don&#039;t have coins that can even buy a pack of gum.&nbsp; The representative testified that the most dangerous counterfeits were cladded metals because they could fake the electronic signature of silver.&nbsp; After many efforts to find a cheap alloy they settled on the one we still use.&nbsp; In those days they didn&#039;t have rollers or presses strong enough to complete the bonding of the three layers of metal so they were forced together with hydraulic presses and then dynamite was exploded above them to complete the process.&nbsp; Unsurprisingly there was a lot of trouble with layers separating and debonding in the early years. </p><p><br /></p><p>So far as I know all the clad planchets for foreign coins are made by the same manufacturers who make the US planchets.&nbsp;&nbsp; I can&#039;t thing of any coins except those made on quarter size clad.&nbsp; The total mintage of these is not extremely high though.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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