Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/09/10/surprise-making-your-own-coin.html
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That sure looks easy, why didn’t he just do it that way? /s
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Expectation:
Reality:
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Clueless oaf. ‘Hmm, technology actually requires some knowlege and skill.’
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Even a bigger surprise: The guy that is now in charge of making our coins is a dangerous pain in the ass.
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My takeaway is that any industrial process is hard to do the first three times you try it, using whatever tools and materials you have at hand. I suspect that a person who casts things in bronze for a living could whip that out in an hour.
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Bonus: When the uncured mold is sputtering at the first pour, one of the things being showered with molten metal is a power cord.
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But not as big of a pain in the ass as watching this buffoon’s video.
My takeaway is that this joker was in it for views, likes, and subscribers, and not in learning how things used to be done, or in doing a good job.
Then again these are subjects - metalworking, casting, and ancient, medieval, and modern coins and their production, that I’ve studied for many, many years and I really hoped that this oaf was going to make a video that would be entertaining and informative. Even in using modern tools and well-documented modern techniques he managed to completely screw everything up. This makes me nerd rage.
Christ, what a late stage maroon.
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Do you know of a video that is good then? I’d be happy to learn more about this.
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I thought engadgets term for series blogging was something when they titled
the item insert coin
I learned this stuff in the days before YouTube and streaming video, from books, classes, and doing it, but it looks like there are some related videos on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=making+ancient+coins
Some of the videos overly complicate things and say that the ancient process was shrouded in secrecy, but it’s really just basic metalworking that has been perfected and handed down over millennia. Being basic doesn’t make the coins produced any less beautiful however, and still requires many hours of skilled effort.
Some ancient Greek coins carry the names of their designer/engravers, who were acknowledged as great artists in their day. The medallic arts - which includes coin engraving and design, are recognized as a branch of sculpture.
This coin is signed by the Greek artist Euainetos, and was minted circa 400–390 B.C. using techniques and technology from that time, obviously.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/antiquitiesproject/4903092151/in/photostream/
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So thats proof of work, as with a cryptocurrency, which defines its value.
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Thanks for that - I’ll dig around
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At least he’s running away from it. At 5:40, he’s hammering a chisel through a completely loose workpiece towards his own abdomen. Next up: how to eviscerate yourself.
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If it was easy, everybody would do it. Quite literally. Money HAS to be difficult to make. The best technologies require ungodly expensive machines that are very cheap to operate.
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I once swallowed a quarter as a child. Pain in the large and small intestine, to be sure. I could follow that sucker around EVERY bend. Less than pleasant, do not recommend as method for coinage.
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So… This is fascinating as hell, but it raises a different question: if currency was such a PITA to make, did they not have very many coins, relatively speaking? Or were these examples you posted the equivalent of the collectible coins that are still currency, but are rarely spent because of their added value to collectors?
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