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How dies were made in 1977. A letter from Bill Fivaz to the US Mint
RogerB
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Here are a letter from Bill Fivaz and a response relating to US Mint process for making dies in 1977. Since all of this has changed, members might be interested in "what was" before it is forgotten. [I redacted Mr. Fivaz' address - that seems to be a popular thing to do these days... 
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Those experimental coins sound interesting. Any images?
"six or eight impressions" for the hubs and masters, each with an anneal in between, caught my attention. I always thought it was maybe three.
Very informative, thanks.
POST NUBILA PHOEBUS / AFTER CLOUDS, SUN
Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
Nope. Same for the experimental 5-cent coins and 2-1/2 cent coins. So far as I am aware, no examples were saved or donated to the Smithsonian -- sad.
Interesting.
Thank you for letting us know.
I vaguely recall seeing a cu-ni clad coin once with the remains of an indentation around the copper core, but dismissed it as just some sort of damage during the upsetting process. Might have been a Kennedy half.
There are some Inco private pattern pieces - machined blanks - matching this description. They look like this:
Face --
Overlap edge of above --
Normal machined blank edge --
On the above, the blank edge was machined to more clearly show the face cladding and copper core. The upsetting machine would have forced the overlapped faces over the core and hidden the copper. This would have required an additional step plus precise control of blanks for uniform results.
Interesting! Thanks @RogerB!
What was the enclosed fact sheet?
I don't know. A copy was not with the letter.
Great information @RogerB... Thanks for posting this...I often thought that the interior material could be hidden by using very slightly over sized cladding which would have been 'smeared' up/down in the minting process... reading the above made me realize that would not work... Cheers, RickO
Would love to see edge pictures of this coin (Similar to the Inco pictures a few posts up)
"You Suck Award" - February, 2015
Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
Thanks again @RogerB
Great history
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StrikeOutXXX -
What does the visible part of the edge look like? Could this be an experiential planchet for the Ike test mentioned in McDonald's letter? (Hint - light from the back for best detail.)
Making planchets like this, striking them, and reporting results seems a good experiment for Dan Carr.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
No clue - not mine.... @Byers Did you submit these? - any chance you took pictures of the edge before they got entombed?
https://mikebyers.com/2041215-012.html
It sold for $275 a month or so ago on eBay by @SullivanNumismatics
This and others from the hoard were featured in a Mint Error News as well
https://minterrornews.com/discoveries-11-20-16-previously-unknown-experimental-blanks-and-planchets.html
"You Suck Award" - February, 2015
Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
Ike dollars were made on new Schuler dual presses. All Carr has is a rebuilt toggle press. The two machines are not analogous.
The easiest "test" would be to take some Ike dollars, use a lathe to cut a couple millimeters out of the center edge, then stick 'em in a rivet press.
The inco piece and the description in the letter from McDonald sort of put the picture in my head of some world coins and their "Security Edge" - granted there would be no beaded design in the middle, but my guess is they tried to duplicate something like this channel down the middle, then fold over the flaps hiding the copper.
"You Suck Award" - February, 2015
Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
The Byers description is not detailed enough to help.