Making money

Last Sunday, at the Living History Fair, I made some money. Well, a King Edward the 1st Penny anyway. It's not a lot but it's a start.

Making the coin was easy, pitch up at the Grunal Moneta stand, hand over a pound coin and the man gives you a pewter disk. This is placed on a die, a tube placed over this and then a second die put in her. Belt the combination with a hammer. Once.

Then take the dies apart and remove the coin. Simple.

The coin I made would have been half a days pay for an English archer, so worth quite a bit more than the quid I paid for the pleasure of stamping it. Mind you, I need a time machine as the local shops don't seem very keen on medieval coinage.

The dies are interesting as they are hand carved. That means someone whittling steel to produce the incredibly tiny patterns for each half. If you feel the need, the nice man will produce your own coinage for you so it's possible to sit and stamp out your own at home. This probably isn't a bad idea what with all the "real" currencies heading toward worthlessness at the moment.

Visit the fascinating Grunal Moneta website.