Question on the early mint.

Bustquarterhound

It is my understanding that the planchets were hand fed into the dies. My question is : Is this true and if so when did that practice end.

CaptHenway

@Bustquarterhound said:
It is my understanding that the planchets were hand fed into the dies. My question is : Is this true and if so when did that practice end.

It is believed that feed mechanisms were first introduced in the late 18th Century, probably in the 1780's, but it was not adopted immediately at every mint in the World and I have no idea when it ended.

If anybody does have information on the early days of the use of feeding mechanisms, could you please contact me? I am researching a Redbook-listed piece from the 1780's that appears to have been struck normally and then struck a second time through a feed finger.

TD