CoinWeek IQ: How Gold Coins Are Made: Spotlight on the Vienna Philharmonic Gold Coin - 4K Video

In January 2016, the Austrian Mint gave CoinLeak unprecedented access to their inner workings of their state-of-the-art coining facility in Vienna, Austria. In this video, you will see how gold planchets are made, see a press operator replace a pair of broken dies, watch the striking of gold Vienna Philharmonic coins and state-of-the-art coin presses, and see what the Austrian Mint's inspection team sees when they look through the glass to make sure that each gold Philharmonic coin they package is absolutely beautiful. The Austrian Mint is a state-of-the-art money factory, and CoinLeak's camera and microphones capture the unique sights and sounds of this amazing place. In this room, the Austrian Mint turns 2,200 pound spools of gold and silver metal into coin blanks using an automated process. This gold spool has an approximate value of $39 million. Once fed into the machine, coin blanks are stamped. Gold and silver ore is refined on site. After the blanks are punched, they are fed into an upsetting machine and then sent off to be washed before striking. The coin press room is filled with state-of-the-art machinery. When we arrived, the press was open and the dies had been removed. We are fortunate today that we get a chance to see the replacement of a broken die. The immense pressure used to strike coins sometimes causes dies to fail. This is a normal part of the coining process. When it comes to broken dies, the Austrian Mint leaves nothing to chance. When one die is broken, both dies in the marriage are replaced. Windows on the side of the coin press allow our camera to capture multiple views of the process. Once the die is replaced, test strikes are made to inspect the proper installation of the dies. Satisfied that the new dies are installed correctly, production resumes. Coins feed out of the machine, one by one, at a rate of about one per second. The coins are collected on plastic trays, which fill up and then are stacked next to the press. A technician visually inspects the coins as they come out, but closer scrutiny comes in the inspection room. The Austrian Mint uses a variety of techniques to inspect each Vienna Philharmonic gold coin for quality. Tissue paper is used to diffuse light to inspect for scratches. Impressive was the large glass used to magnify the coins. We position our cameras behind the Austrian Mint's quality control specialists to see what they see. And there you have it. The 2016 Vienna Philharmonic gold coin, made in the heart of Vienna by the Austrian Mint.