Coins were struck by hand from the time that coinage was invented about 600 BC. The technique, although seemingly crude, is capable of producing coins of great beauty. The Mint's collection of coinage dies includes a small number of tools from the days when coins were struck by hand. There is, for example, a set of tools dating back to the mid fourteenth century during the reign of Edward III that was used to strike half-groats - which had a face value of two pence.
The bottom die or pile, as it was known, had a spike at one end that allowed it to be driven into a solid piece of wood. A blank disc of metal was then placed on top of the die, the upper die, or trussel, was positioned over the blank and the assembly of pile, trussel and blank was hit with a hammer. In this way the surface of the blank received the designs that were engraved into the surfaces of the dies.
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In receiving the direct blows of the hammer the trussel probably wore out twice as quickly as the pile; consequently, in order to save them time, Mint engravers tended to cut the simpler design into the trussel.
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