Coins are such familiar objects that little thought is given to how they are made or to their place in history. They have changed very little in their form since their introduction about 600 BC but they have almost entirely replaced such objects as conch shells which were once used as a medium of exchange. The methods of manufacturing coins have depended on the industrial processes in use at the time, and the author describes the development of the essential processes from the very early days of the Lydians in Asia Minor until the production of the familiar composite coinage of today. The original significance of coin as a method of payment with intrinsic value (as in the early gold coins) can be compared with the modern token currency, which nevertheless has an amount of built-in security which could not have been known in the past. The development of coinage production during the Renaissance period and the industrial revolution is traced in some detail.