The U.S. Mint makes the nation’s circulating coins, as well as bullion and numismatic (collector) coins. The Mint’s four production facilities in Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and West Point use a variety of machines and processes. Explore the steps of how the Mint makes coins.

Once the Secretary of the Treasury approves a design, Mint medallic artists transform a line drawing into a three-dimensional sculpt. After the sculpt is finalized and digitized, the Mint makes coin dies that stamp the design onto the coins.

Blanks are flat metal discs that will eventually become coins. The Mint makes blanks for:

• Nickels
• Dimes
• Quarters
• Half dollars
• Dollars

For pennies, numismatic coins, and bullion coins, the Mint buys blanks.

To make blanks, the Mint buys coils of metal 1,500 feet long made to the correct specifications of each denomination. The coil is first fed through a machine that straightens the metal and then into a blanking press. The blanking press punches out the blanks like a cookie cutter at a rate of 14,000 blanks per minute. They have a slightly different diameter, but the same thickness, as a finished coin.

The blanks are transported to the annealing furnace for the next stage of the process. The scrap metal from the coil, called webbing, is shredded and recycled.