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

These coins were more of a chunk of gold with a quality stamp, like a seal, on them rather than value representing object we are used to today. This means that the motif just needed to be on it somewhere. Coins were all about their weight rather than face value. Gold coins were used by relatively few people, not commonly traded on a day to day basis, so the ones who used them knew how to value them. Non-centricity can also be attributed to people shaving the edges off making them lighter. Proper coins with face value came later.