Why were ancient minters so bad at making round coins with the pattern in the middle?

Question

[Roman coins often look like total crap, why?](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/1*JEAj3t9m9nAwrsFLLTMAQw.jpeg)

In: Technology

Answer 1

Because those coins were ‘struck’ by hand. You get a big hammer and put the reverse imprint of the coin on the face of the hammer. You then swing the hammer and hit the tiny piece of metal to leave an imprint. This process is not very precise. I certainly couldn’t swing a large hammer perfectly all day long and neither could they.