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The New Zealand Mint has been
coining commemorative coins of legal tender, gold
medallions and bullions for more than 4 decades. As
the only mint in New Zealand of precious metal, the
country was one of the first mints in the world to
follow the .9999 measure for the purity of the gold
coin, and prides itself on its production work and
high quality designs.
Although the Mint is best known for the bullion of
Gold Kiwi, currently, its program includes the legal
tender of the Kingdom of Nepal remembering the
Golden Anniversary of Mount Everest’s conquest, the
first of all time Fiji Pure Gold coin utilizing
Fijian gold, and Endangered Asian Wildlife series’
legal tender. |
In the previous year alone, the New Zealand Mint has
presented in Switzerland at the World Money Fair, grew its
website for collectors, had its coins featured on the cover
of the coin collecting magazines of the world, and secured
associations with foreign states, the trade staff of
diplomats and the officials of reserve banks.
The global distribution of the New Zealand Mint
network goes as far as the UK, Asia, Europe,
Australasia, and the USA.
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Situated in New Zealand’s largest city of Auckland,
the Mint's extremely experienced technical team
supervises all facets of the process of design,
including production of the complicated die-making
and master tools.
Each aspect of manufacturing, from
zero preparation to quality control, occurs in a
aseptic environment under the Mint Master’s personal
supervision.
The New Zealand Mint personally guarantees all of
its products and releases a
Certificate of Authenticity with every minted coin from its
factory.
The proof coin’s minting is the supreme expression of the
art of the minter. Much supposed and trial and error will go
into the choice of an appropriate finish to manufacture a
coin that has aesthetic merit in its own right. This
procedure can become so precise that each coin is nearly
hand made. |
The procedure of proof coin minting begins with a process of
large-scale drawings of the artist on which to base the
design, including the theme of the coin, typography and
other aspects.
Once the process of design is completed a plaster mould or
template is made demonstrating the artwork in full relief.
A rubber stamp is then derived from plaster, and from this
mold a master pattern of epoxy resin is made.
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The master pattern of epoxy is then mounted on a
sophisticated cutting down machine that
transliterates the original design straight onto the
operational dies. This process can take a number of
days depending upon the design’s complexity and the
required detail.
As soon as the engraving process is finished the dies are
set and turned to the right size. Each die’s surface is then
sand-blasted to produce an effect of fine frosting before
the die’s table is fastidiously polished by hand to a
“mirror-like” finish.
The dies employed for proof coin minting will be re-polished
manually several times over their operational life and in
time will be substituted to preserve the caliber of the
proof coin. |
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