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Developments in coin production gradually increased coinage circulation across the globe. The two main methods of making coins were striking and casting.

In the Western world people usually used the striking method. It is believed that the earliest adopters of hand-striking were the Lydians and Greeks in the 7th Century BC. Designs were stamped onto both sides of the blank metal using two engraved dies.
It took a high level of skill and this method of production remained dominant in the Western tradition for more than two thousand years.

The dies were usually hand engraved and made from hardened bronze. The dies had to be hard in order to stand up to repeated hammer blows.

 

 

In the Eastern world (particularly china) coins were usually made through 'casting'. This method uses moulds decorated with the required pattern, molten metal is then poured into the mould and allowed to cool. The hardened coins could then be removed from the mould.

The casting method has played an important role throughout history and was used not only to make circular coins but also bar, sword, and axe shaped coinage.

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