Largest US mint struck coin

moursund

The Panama pill is the smallest diameter coin ever struck by the u.s. mint. What is the largest? I saw something about an Apollo dollar with an appalling diameter. Is that it?

PerryHall

The largest and heaviest US coin would be the 5 oz ATB coins commonly call pucks.

Weiss

The Pan Pac $50 came to mind first. But I think @PerryHall is right. The pucks at 5 troy ounces are pretty huge.

MsMorrisine

3 inches

koynekwest

I believe the Apollo coin is tied with the pucks.

PerryHall

@Weiss said:
The Pan Pac $50 came to mind first. But I think @PerryHall is right. The pucks at 5 troy ounces are pretty huge.

The $50 gold slug weighs a little more than 2.5 ozs so the pucks are almost twice as heavy.

MsMorrisine

So, 10mm to 76.2mm in range

DoubleEagle59

In Canada, our population might be small, but we do things in a big way......................

moursund

I can't afford a pan pac 50, so tell me more about this Apollo. 😉

kiyote

There were five of those giant Canadian coins minted but one got stolen and melted down

Kliao

@moursund said:
I can't afford a pan pac 50, so tell me more about this Apollo. 😉

2019 Apollo anniversary commemorative. Big 5 ounce silver puck. It’s also curved like the baseball commemoratives, kinda hard to show the curve. With a Morgan for size comparison.

JBK

@DoubleEagle59 said:
In Canada, our population might be small, but we do things in a big way......................

I'm familiar with the coin but not the manufacturing process. I assume it was cast (not struck)?

MsMorrisine

Then they polished it!

MsMorrisine

Notice the gloves

moursund

@MsMorrisine said:
Notice the gloves

I thought it was still molten-hot...

3stars

Australia laughs at the Canadian coin…

Tibor

@MsMorrisine said:
Then they polished it!

Lot of Turtle Wax used on that!!

ricko

I have always been intrigued by the PanPac $50 slug.... would love to hold one in my hand... Just a big, beautiful gold coin.... Cheers, RickO

Goldbully

I believe the 1877 gold “Half Union” pattern was the largest gold coin struck in the USA.

83.6 grams .....50.8mm diameter.

---

https://www.gainesvillecoins.com/blog/half-union-50-dollar-us-gold-coin

CaptHenway

@ricko said:
I have always been intrigued by the PanPac $50 slug.... would love to hold one in my hand... Just a big, beautiful gold coin.... Cheers, RickO

It is fun, but definitely keep a pad under it!

ricko

@CaptHenway... That would be a certainty, since I am sure my hands would be subject to a bit of shaking. I am sure you have handled a few.... I am a tad envious. Cheers, RickO

moursund

@Goldbully said:
I believe the 1877 gold “Half Union” pattern was the largest gold coin struck in the USA.

83.6 grams .....50.8mm diameter.

---

https://www.gainesvillecoins.com/blog/half-union-50-dollar-us-gold-coin

Apparently that is only two-thirds the diameter of the pucks!

vulcanize

If we are talking about the circulated coins, it would be the Ike dollar isn't it?

PerryHall

@vulcanize said:
If we are talking about the circulated coins, it would be the Ike dollar isn't it?

No. The silver dollars made from1794 to 1804 are larger and most show extensive circulation in commerce.

vulcanize

Thank you. I had completely forgotten about the Draped Bust dollar being of 39–40 mm diameter with a mass of 26.96 g

I guess the below picture that was found on the web a while ago should be updated with it

moursund

@vulcanize said:

Thank you. I had completely forgotten about the Draped Bust dollar being of 39–40 mm diameter with a mass of 26.96 g

I guess the below picture that was found on the web a while ago should be updated with it

That's a great idea for typeset... sizeset, actually.

PerryHall

@vulcanize said:

Thank you. I had completely forgotten about the Draped Bust dollar being of 39–40 mm diameter with a mass of 26.96 g

I guess the below picture that was found on the web a while ago should be updated with it

In addition to the Draped Bust dollars, the Flowing Hair dollars are also larger than the later dollars.

moursund

@PerryHall said:

@vulcanize said:

Thank you. I had completely forgotten about the Draped Bust dollar being of 39–40 mm diameter with a mass of 26.96 g

I guess the below picture that was found on the web a while ago should be updated with it

In addition to the Draped Bust dollars, the Flowing Hair dollars are also larger than the later dollars.

By my count, 5 of these sizes were supported by commercially-made vending machines. Maybe 6 if you include Las Vegas.

fathom

Some of the largest mint medals are over 100mm.

I don't know of any vending machines that accepted Ike dollars. The largest amusement machine accepted coins were the SBA, a massive failure. Off topic but gaming/casino is a different animal. The Mint has to accommodate vending, not gaming.

PerryHall

@fathom said:
Some of the largest mint medals are over 100mm.

I don't know of any vending machines that accepted Ike dollars. The largest amusement machine accepted coins were the SBA, a massive failure. Off topic but gaming/casino is a different animal. The Mint has to accommodate vending, not gaming.

The Ike dollars were originally made for the slot machines used in the casinos since silver dollars were no longer in circulation. Not sure if slot machines can be considered to be vending machines.

fathom

@PerryHall said:

@fathom said:
Some of the largest mint medals are over 100mm.

I don't know of any vending machines that accepted Ike dollars. The largest amusement machine accepted coins were the SBA, a massive failure. Off topic but gaming/casino is a different animal. The Mint has to accommodate vending, not gaming.

The Ike dollars were originally made for the slot machines used in the casinos since silver dollars were no longer in circulation. Not sure if slot machines can be considered to be vending machines.

The Ike took the place of the gaming token in the casinos, but you will have to convince me the legislation in 1969 was enacted for Vegas.

CaptHenway

@fathom said:

@PerryHall said:

@fathom said:
Some of the largest mint medals are over 100mm.

I don't know of any vending machines that accepted Ike dollars. The largest amusement machine accepted coins were the SBA, a massive failure. Off topic but gaming/casino is a different animal. The Mint has to accommodate vending, not gaming.

The Ike dollars were originally made for the slot machines used in the casinos since silver dollars were no longer in circulation. Not sure if slot machines can be considered to be vending machines.

The Ike took the place of the gaming token in the casinos, but you will have to convince me the legislation in 1969 was enacted for Vegas.

I don't think that there is any question that one of the main reasons for the Ike dollar was to meet the demands of Las Vegas. After silver dollars disappeared circa 1965, the Franklin Mint stepped in to sell the casinos dollar-sized slugs that they could use instead. In addition to being able to advertise their casinos of their own tokens, they cost the casinos well under one dollar each, so that whenever a patron took one home as a souvenir the casino made the difference as a profit.

The U.S. Treasury, which wanted that seigniorage for itself, tried to tell the casinos "You can't do that!," and the casinos replied "Oh yeah? Then give us dollar coins at face value that we can use." Unfortunately the Treasury was boxed in by the Coinage Act of 1965, which banned the striking of dollar coins for five years in response to the striking of 1964-dated Standard Silver Dollars in 1965. The ban expired in 1970, and the death of Eisenhower gave the impetus to issue an Eisenhower dollar.

It also balanced the number of Republicans on the circulating coins, with Lincoln and Eisenhower offsetting Roosevelt and Kennedy. Washington and Jefferson were considered neutral. Don't laugh, I saw a story about this when the Ike dollar was announced.

CaptHenway

@ricko said:
@CaptHenway... That would be a certainty, since I am sure my hands would be subject to a bit of shaking. I am sure you have handled a few.... I am a tad envious. Cheers, RickO

It was fun to hold a U.S. coin by the corners...........

thefinn

@DoubleEagle59 said:
In Canada, our population might be small, but we do things in a big way......................

True, but it was cast, not struck.

DoubleEagle59

@thefinn said:

@DoubleEagle59 said:
In Canada, our population might be small, but we do things in a big way......................

True, but it was cast, not struck.

You're right!

Shows you I need to pay more attention to the original post.

Samuel8

The US mint should do a 5oz high relief reverse proof enhanced eagle.
Canada, Perthmint and some other mints already did the 5oz high relief coins.

fathom

@CaptHenway said:

@fathom said:

@PerryHall said:

@fathom said:
Some of the largest mint medals are over 100mm.

I don't know of any vending machines that accepted Ike dollars. The largest amusement machine accepted coins were the SBA, a massive failure. Off topic but gaming/casino is a different animal. The Mint has to accommodate vending, not gaming.

The Ike dollars were originally made for the slot machines used in the casinos since silver dollars were no longer in circulation. Not sure if slot machines can be considered to be vending machines.

The Ike took the place of the gaming token in the casinos, but you will have to convince me the legislation in 1969 was enacted for Vegas.

I don't think that there is any question that one of the main reasons for the Ike dollar was to meet the demands of Las Vegas. After silver dollars disappeared circa 1965, the Franklin Mint stepped in to sell the casinos dollar-sized slugs that they could use instead. In addition to being able to advertise their casinos of their own tokens, they cost the casinos well under one dollar each, so that whenever a patron took one home as a souvenir the casino made the difference as a profit.

The U.S. Treasury, which wanted that seigniorage for itself, tried to tell the casinos "You can't do that!," and the casinos replied "Oh yeah? Then give us dollar coins at face value that we can use." Unfortunately the Treasury was boxed in by the Coinage Act of 1965, which banned the striking of dollar coins for five years in response to the striking of 1964-dated Standard Silver Dollars in 1965. The ban expired in 1970, and the death of Eisenhower gave the impetus to issue an Eisenhower dollar.

It also balanced the number of Republicans on the circulating coins, with Lincoln and Eisenhower offsetting Roosevelt and Kennedy. Washington and Jefferson were considered neutral. Don't laugh, I saw a story about this when the Ike dollar was announced.

Maybe Incidental.

The demands of Vegas would have had little sway in 1970.

As I understand, the casinos hated the Ike, people walked out with them instead of spending.

privatecoin

The mint should do 1/2 , 1/4, and 1/10 silver eagles.

Goldminers

This one is not a "coin", but it is an official 1988-P US Mint gold medal struck in 3- inch diameter of 90% gold and is stated to be one troy pound, which is 12 troy ounces gold, but it weighs more on my scale. It has the Philadelphia mintmark.

Another 3-inch .900 gold that is stated to be a bit heavier is the 1976 gold bicentennial medal which is around 14.6 ounces at 90% or 13.18 AGW. If I ever get one of them, I will compare their actual weights. These medals are both uncirculated, but they can look proof-like, or even DMPL. They were struck up to 5 times at 1,300 tons of pressure according to one source.