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B VOLUME 6 / MARCH 2019 Focus on Environment The End and Innovation at WMF of Krause Publications? Technical Forum F+W, parent company of Krause Publications, has filed for bankruptcy. This could potentially result in the end of numerous numismatic publications in the US. Years of mismanagement and poor investments are considered the causes of these developments. One could be inclined to compare this to a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in the field of numismatic journalism. At its epicenter is the headquarters of F+W in New York City. Coin collectors outside of the US might have never heard of this name, yet F+W has owned one of the global players of numismatic publishing ever since it acquired Krause Publications in 2002. Back then, business was still booming. Now, the public has learned that the corporation has ruined itself by speculation The Technical Forum took place for Cyanide-free electroplating and is being crushed by the burden of the 15th time at the World Money Fair The Italian Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca its debts. Last week, F+W had to file in Berlin on 31 January, moderated dello Stato dedicated their presentation to for bankruptcy and its holdings will be – as usual – by Thomas Hogenkamp copper plating of coin blanks for 1, 2 and liquidated in the next few months. This (Spaleck) and Dieter Merkle (Schuler 5 cent pieces. If struck in large numbers, could potentially bring about the end Pressen). 15 presentations were made extensive material savings are already of numerous numismatic publications, by representatives of public and possible by reducing the thickness of the such as Numismatic News and World private mints as well as the supply plating from 25 to 15 micrometers for the Coin News, Krause’s famous reference sector in front of an audience of 430 1 and 2 cent coins and 20 micrometers catalogs Standard Catalog of World Coins, registered attendees. for the 5 cent coins – as was done in Italy and Krause’s Coin of the Year (COTY) The focus of this year’s talks was on in 2018. competition. environmental protection and inspection. In addition, the Italian mint developed a F+W: a major corporation An abundance of case studies completed new procedure in the past two years which F+W was founded in New York in 1913 the program. allows for the application of copper plating and began its publishing work with two One of the coin industry’s priorities is by use of a cyanide-free electrolyte. This magazines. Today, the corporation is made sustainability in waste water management. solution was custom-developed for the up of two big departments: the publishing Water is one of our most valuable Italian mint and its results can be compared sector for books and their so-called resources. The coin industry is dependent to electrolytes containing cyanide. communities, which encompass magazines, on the use of large amounts of water Continued on page 2 > websites, e-learning and currently a total of for several production processes. Three 21 e-commerce shops. The range of topics speakers presented examples of how water covers all types of hobbies imaginable: arts can be used in the best way possible. and crafts, knives and antiquities, hunting and painting – and coins. Continued on page 6 > www.currency-news.com WMF Technical Forum (Continued) It is, however, considerably more expensive Another reason for choosing to work with CarveCo is a company which is wholly and demands high standards of production. H2O was the extremely short time required owned by former ArtCam creators. Both the electroplating and coin striking for maintenance procedures. According to Ultimately, there is nothing new about this, process had to be adapted to this new current experiential values, they take up only except that ArtCam will keep going, albeit approach. Even though the optimal about 10-15 minutes per day. In addition, under a new name. the machines are extremely unsusceptible adhesion of the copper plating is now Laser frosting guaranteed, a constant quality control to malfunctioning: in 2018, they were One of the few processes in coin remains necessary. inoperative for less than five days, not due to production that is still mostly done by hand malfunctioning but due to maintenance. As a government-owned business, the is the application of the finest layers of Italian mint views the positive effects on New evaporator by Spaleck frosting by polishing the die. Hence, there is the environment as more decisive than the Karin Geukes of Spaleck also dedicated potential of labour saving in this field. increased costs and the more complex her talk to waste water disposal by way In this year’s talk, Alexander Aminidis of production process. of vaporisation. However, she didn’t ACSYS emphasized the various possibilities Coin blank production in concentrate on vaporisation at high of applying different frostings through pico closed water circuit temperatures, but at 30-35°. and nanolasers. Last March, Monea resumed coin The vacuum steamer newly developed and Upon customer request, a Frosting blank production in the Slovakian city distributed by Spaleck, which was designed Assistant was developed which can be of Kremnica. Blank production and specifically with the needs of mints in mind, used to perfectly edit an image for the electroplating are now both located in the allows the user to monitor whether or not respective die. Two different systems – 2D completely renovated factory site. sediments have developed inside the tank Vector Files and Greyscale Image – allow Just under 12 months were needed to get or pipes in order to remove them. for the choice between multiple modes from the decision-making to the initiation of According to the speaker, infrequent usage of frosting. Greyscale Image even makes production. Due to all of the governmental of the evaporator and consequently frequent gradient frosting possible. Due to Dynamic permits needed for electroplating, this would stand-by times can result in sediments Focus Control, these lasers can not only not have been possible if Monea had not that constitute a perfect environment for be used on flat pieces, but also on dies for already decided early on that the entire bacteria and fungi. This sediment is not only blanks of special shape. site would be kept waste water free. Only dangerous in terms of handling, it can also Hundreds of dies for challenging the sewage produced by the dishwasher result in a loss of efficiency. commemorative coins and toilets is discharged to the local water Spaleck’s evaporator offers fast fault On January 25, the longest government disposal. Everything else is cleaned by way detection, easy fault removal and shutdown in US history ended. Just in time of state-of-the-art vacuum distillation, and consequently a higher efficiency and a for Ronald E Harrigal of the United States reused afterwards. lower loss of production. In addition, as Mint to make his way to Berlin and present That is a crucial contribution to the water needs to be heated up or cooled his talk at the Technical Forum. It was environmental protection since one hour down to lower temperatures, the system is dedicated to the problems mints are faced of work at Monea, grossed up to a 24/7 very energy-efficient. with when they have to produce the most production, produces 1,500 to 2,000 litres technically challenging commemorative coins of waste water. The core business: coin production Eight speakers in total dedicated their in very large numbers. Monea decided to collaborate with H2O. The presentations to coin manufacturing: Ronald presented a recent case study which company works with vacuum evaporation: from die production (four) to striking (one) focused on the domed commemorative waste water is heated and evaporates, to material (two talks) right up to project coins the US had minted in celebration of the and the polluted components remain as a management (one). In this section of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. The compact mass, which in turn is completely forum, half of the speakers were mint US Mint had already applied this elaborate recyclable. In a next step, the evaporated representatives. They presented the latest technology in 2014. Now, it had to be water is condensed and can be reused in developments on the basis of case studies. adapted for new denominations. production without any losses. ArtCAM – Delcam = CarveCo Four denominations were planned for this One aspect is particularly remarkable: 95% commemorative issue: of the used energy is also recycled. Only Anyone wondering why attendees no longer 50 cent – no change necessary; two H2O vacuum vaporizers of a theoretical saw those entertaining videos showing capacity of 1,000 litres are needed for the the latest creations of ArtCAM/Delcam at $1 in silver – technology had to be waste water of Monea Kremnica. the Technical Forum 2017 and 2018 were adapted to the change in alloy to .999; enlightened by Robert Newman: in 2018, Of course, the overall costs were the 5oz $1 in silver – this new denomination Delcam abandoned the development of decisive factor that played in favor of H2O. with a diameter of 7.5cm posed the ArtCAM – which caused some irritation According to the initial mission plan, said greatest challenges; among many users (and even more so costs should not be higher than those among the developers). $5 in gold – no change necessary. caused by comparable systems. In the end, The latter decided to continue the software The technology department estimated that the entire investment amounted to only 400 pairs of dies would be necessary for 70% of traditional CP systems. Therefore, at their own risk and their own responsibility. Last October, they reached an agreement the 100,000 5oz coins. What an incredible Monea expects the amortisation to be effort: a CNC mill needs 11.5 hours to within the first one and a half years. with Delcam that resulted in the assigning of the rights of the well-known software produce just one of them. It takes an ArtCAM, which they can now carry on and additional four hours to hand polish one advance under the new label CarveCo. individual die.

2 MINT NEWS QUARTERLY The patented ‘Multi Component Circulation The drum used to polish the blanks with Coins’ are tri-metal coins consisting of special compounds has been redesigned. one ring and not one, but two inserts. The It is made of acid-resistant stainless steel, numerous possible material combinations has an optimised form and is constantly generate an even more exact EMS and an monitored by partially-patented sensors. additional visible security feature in the form They guarantee the exact dosing of water of various visual colours on the obverse and and compounds, adapted to every batch reverse – just as with the flip flop products at every step of the process. Expensive that have been developed in Germany. overdosing can thus be prevented. The A custom-adapted minting process ensures system also includes an integrated dryer. the optimal connection of the various The developers paid particular attention to components. For this purpose, a tailored ensuring that processed blanks will not be high-speed tri-feeding system as well as a damaged in any of the following steps. special coin press were developed, which State-of-the-art Siemens technology results can produce up to 400 coins a minute. in a user-friendly control and 4.0 solutions Tri-metal tokens, which are very popular via touchpad. among collectors, have already been struck Future of minting technology in the new system. It can be used for the According to Wolfgang Schuman of Schuler production of circulation coins at any time. Pressen, the production of bi- and tri-metal In Germany, commemorative coins with coins remains too complex. polymer rings have attracted the attention First, the rings must be prepared, then they of the media and collectors alike. This have to be joined with the centres in custom- is considered proof of the collectors’ optimised machines to make and strike the acceptance of new non-metal materials. coin. Said coin then has to be inspected (this Now, the Portuguese Mint (Imprensa is very often still done manually). Those are Nacional Casa da Moeda, or INCM) have too many steps, which is why the bi- and tri- developed their own polymer coins – bi- metal coins are disproportionately expensive metal coins whose entire centre consists in terms of production. of polymer. Therefore, Schuler has one goal: all-in- This presents minting technology with an one punching, joining, coining and quality entirely new problem as ring and centre control for both bi- and tri-metal coins. cannot be joined automatically within the In order to complete this task in the This is what research already drew on minting process. Polymer tends to crack planned production window of 90 days, the when the German government decided easily or loosen after the minting process Philadelphia Mint purchased four additional in 2015 to have polymer coins minted in has been completed. CNC mills, so that six mills could be larger numbers for the first time. Hence, employed at the same time. This is where INCM’s engineers began the construction of joining machines for their work. And they actually managed Additionally, the emission was prepared in polymer coins became a priority. The to develop a polymer which can be used meticulous detail. Computers were used to machines, designed and built by Schuler, as the centre of the coin. This results in simulate the flow of metal so as to optimise are now used in Karlsruhe, one of the state an abundance of new possibilities for the the dies in a way that would prevent mints of Baden-Württemberg, and at the creative department: they can now play early die cracks. During the practical test, Bavarian Mint in Munich. with colours and holographic images. it became apparent that removing the This does not mean, however, that Schuler chrome layer of the PVD coating led to In addition, RFID devices, which are used has lost sight of the overall objective. a 4,000% (sic!) increase in the die’s life. for data identification purposes in countless Engineers at the Innovation Tower in This resulted in only 125 reverse dies and fields, have successfully been embedded Göppingen are working on the development 65 obverse dies being needed to fulfil the within the coins. This results not only in of one single machine for all of the program requirements. The machining time attractive visual affects but also high security numerous steps in the production of bi- and was reduced from 11.5 to 4.5 hours. factors – and a vast array of possible tri-metal coins. applications thanks to RFID technology. Hence, the problem of producing the To be continued … at one of the next dies in time was solved. A different Surface-finishing system Technical Forums. problem ultimately became the Rüdiger Böhm of the Rösler company Optimised project management bottleneck for production: the supply of presented the MPA 17.1 E-SA, a new Munich-based BH Mayers Kunstprägeanstalt 5oz domed blanks. system for the surface-finishing of and Münz-Prägstatt presented at the commemorative coins which has been Technical Forum for the first time. Jochen New materials customised for this precise purpose. Dr Xianyao Li (Royal Canadian Mint) Diessner revealed how the high-tech The new system offers easily accessible presented a project for a new generation of company, which is very popular among connecting points for energy, water, circulation coins which is aimed at making private customers, manages to fulfill the compressed air and waste water at them even more secure, more attractive, demand of delivering on time a wealth of minimised space requirements and and more cost-effective in their production. small emissions, most of which present thus guarantees a secure and quiet incredible technological challenges. production process.

MINT NEWS QUARTERLY VOLUME 5 | MARCH 2018 H2O: Vacudest A computer program called IPPS How do machines learn? This question was (Integration Planning Production Service) the pivotal one of the talk presented by Dr XS Clearcat is the key to success. It perfectly Anupriya Balikai of Spookfish. How much For those mints who have to handle synchronises all production processes effort does it take to teach them how to smaller quantities of wastewater, H2O and takes into account the availability of distinguish real from false? Are there other GmbH has developed a new system, employees and machines. alternatives? How secure and complex are the Vacudest XS Clearcat. This is The system automatically generates plans those? How much data is necessary? particularly interesting for companies which list, assign and schedule all of the The Spookfish inspection systems Microps with less than 300 cubic metres of oily production steps in detail and controls X and Xi, which can inspect up to 1,500 liquid discharge per year. their execution. It is still possible for the and 3,000 coins per minute respectively, ‘Our VACUDEST XS to date could not, ‘master’ to intervene manually at the control offer the possibility of ‘Automatic Teaching’. from a technical perspective, be offered station and to overwrite the system’s They enable the inspection system to with our tried-and-tested Clearcat recommendations. independently acquire the data that module,’ according to the Sales Every single step can be traced on the basis characterises a ‘good’ coin. Director Jochen Freund. ‘Given that of the work schedules. Hence, the company During her research, Dr Balikai discovered our vision is to enable an increasing management is able to tell customers at any that two methods in particular led to the number of industrial enterprises to given time whether or not their suggested highest decision accuracy: unsupervised have liquid discharge-free production, time schedule is reasonable or not. learning, which requires a large number of over the past year we have worked objects the machine can learn from, and meticulously on a solution. We Efficient quality control – fast, changed the design of the VACUDEST perfect, and cost-efficient so-called ‘deep learning’, which requires an even larger amount of data. During XS, and the Clearcat module has now Three companies dedicated their supervised learning, one piece or a small found its place in the highly compact presentations to the various possibilities number of examples demonstrating the XS system. Our little chick has not only of how visual, computerised systems range of features the machine is expected now got better, but is more attractive.’ can distinguish good and usable coins to use in the evaluation process can suffice. The Clearcat module enables crystal from those that must be withdrawn from clear, virtually oil-free distillate and also circulation as quickly, perfectly, and cost- ‘Semi-supervised learning’ has proven satisfies strict requirements through effectively as possible. particularly efficient. During this process, the user intervenes to teach the machine the high COD reduction. As such, the Two types of machines are developing in how to detect forged and real coins by way distillate can be reused with greater divergent directions: of a relatively small amount of coins. frequency in the production process. Machines used to ‘process’ the coins Seven out of ten new VACUDEST The new tool for quality determination at logistics centres, ie. machines that systems have already been delivered offered by Induvis targets those who examine foreign, forged or useless coins with the Clearcat module. produce collectors’ coins. Its distinctive according to ETSC standards; feature is that it can be implemented into ‘We are delighted to be able to now Machines used in the field of collectors’ various different production systems. The 2D offer this option to companies with low coins, which are used to ensure that only inline inspection system does not interrupt liquid discharge volumes,’ says Freund. coins of highest perfection are approved the flow of material, is highly flexible and can The system is available in two different for delivery. be perfectly tailored to customers’ needs. sizes: the XS 200 Clearcat is the Mühlbauer manufactures inspection At the moment, Induvis is developing a smallest system in the series and is machines for circulation coins that can new system which will also be able to be ideal for up to 200 cubic metres of inspect up to 3,000 items per minute in integrated into existing production lines liquid discharge per year. The XS 300 regard to visual features (obverse, reverse and will allow for 3D inspection of objects. Clearcat treats 300 cubic metres of and edge), weight, diameter, EMS and Colour deviations and defects will be wastewater per year. numerous other factors. Some material detected down to 50µm. The system’s combinations even allow for the exact illumination is highly flexible and can also be determination of the plating’s thickness. tailor specifically to customers’ needs. The inspection of the relief is also important The CEO of the Mint of Finland, Jonne for forgery detection. Hankimaa, wrapped up this year’s Technical All of the measured results can be Forum with the usual reminder that the combined for every single piece. The future of cash and consequently the entire combination of various measurements basis of the industry is anything but certain. increases the probability of detecting And Dieter Merkle added a call to support counterfeit coins and decreases the the movement ‘Cash Matters’. (accidental) rejection of real coins. It is nevertheless remarkable to see In addition, Mühlbauer recently applied for a how much money mints invest in the patent of a new process which counts the development of expensive technology which pieces with 100% accuracy. is solely used for collectors’ coins. Three out of five case studies presented by mints were dedicated to commemorative coins, only two of them studied circulation coins.

VOLUME 5 | MARCH 2018 4 French Star Coin Constellation Award: Chef Wins 2019 COTY Call for Applications The COTY trophies for 2019 were awarded on 2 February at the World Money Fair. The Coin of the Year was the ‘Best Silver Coin’ from France – the €50 ‘French Excellency Guy Savoy’ coin.

The winners of the various categories are as follow: Most Historically Significant The Russian publishing house Best circulation coin: the participant Coin: Austria – €20 silver / Water Mark has announced that the cannot present more than three coins for 175th Anniversary of the Vienna application process for this year’s Coin the nomination. The coins must be made of Philharmonic Orchestra; Constellation Award has begun. base metals, as they are normally used in Best Contemporary Event Coin: Coin Constellation is the only international the manufacturing of circulating cash. Coins South Africa – 2 Rand silver / contest for commemorative coins held depicting any theme and made with the use South African Inventions: The Heart in Russia. National central banks, mints of any technology can be submitted. Transplant; and coin distributing companies from Coin classic: the participant can present Best Gold Coin: USA – $100 gold / all over the world can participate in the only one coin for the nomination. Only American Liberty 225th Anniversary contest. A jury of international specialists round-shaped coins of classic design Gold Coin; from well-known world museums, auction made by applying ‘classic’ technologies houses and representatives of numismatic (without using insets of stones, holograms, Best Silver Coin: France – (as above) associations will determine the winners of pad printing, enameling and other similar – €50 silver / French Excellency Guy each category. technologies) can be submitted. Savoy; Only coins issued between 1 January Souvenir coin: the participant can present Best Crown Coin: The Cook Islands and 31 December 2018 are eligible for only one coin for the nomination. The – $5 silver / Scarab Collection: Red submission. The deadline is 25 March. submitted coins must have been issued as Dawn; Awards will be made in nine categories souvenirs for numismatists and the general Best Circulating Coin: Mauritania – under the following conditions: non-collecting public. The accepted coins 20 Ouguiya tri-metallic / Camels; are coins of different shape, designed inter Unique concept: the participant cannot Best Bi-Metallic Coin: France – €2 alia by using non-typical technologies: present more than three coins for the bi-metallic / The Fight Against Breast insets, pad printing, enameling, thermal nomination. Coins submitted in this Cancer; printing and others. category cannot be presented in the Most Artistic Coin: Austria – €50 categories ‘Best artistic solution’ and Silver coin of the year: the participant can gold / The Vienna Schools of ‘Original technology’. present only one coin for the nomination. Psychotherapy: Sigmund Freud; Best artistic solution: the participant Gold coin of the year: the participant can Most Innovative Coin: Palau – $20 cannot present more than three coins present only one coin for the nomination. silver / Great Micromosaic Passion: for the nomination. Coins submitted in Coin of the year: the participant can Birth of Venus; this category cannot be presented in the present only one coin for the nomination. Most Inspirational Coin: USA – categories ‘Unique concept’ and ‘Original Coins made of any metals can be $2 silver / Boys Town Centennial technology’. submitted. Commemorative. Original technology: the participant A People’s Choice Award will also be All coins in the contest are dated 2017. cannot present more than three coins selected. Voting will be possible on the Joaquin Jimenez received the Lifetime for the nomination. Coins submitted in publishing house’s website in due course. Achievement Award in Coin Design. He this category cannot be presented in the Further information is available on the Water is a designer, engraver and artist at the categories ‘Unique concept’ and ‘Best Mark website at www.gold10.ru/eng/. Monnaie de Paris. artistic solution’.

5 MINT NEWS QUARTERLY End of Krause Publications? (Continued)

F+W, the parent company of Krause Publications, has filed for bankruptcy.

Numismatics is the domain of Krause In the bankruptcy petition, CEO Gregory Publications, which in itself publishes 46 Osberg states that the costs incurred by magazines (not only numismatic ones), e-commerce were huge and it took a toll Publisher: Currency Publications Ltd organizes 15 coin shows and can list an on the relationship with their customers. in association with Monea. impressive 750 titles. They include many The F+W website had to undergo complete Editor: reference catalogs for coins and banknotes modernisation – which was one big mal- Dr Ursula Kampmann such as Bank Note Reporter, Standard investment. The arts and crafts department (left) Catalog of World Coins and the Standard spent about $6 million on e-commerce in Catalog of World Paper Money. 2018 – only half of it was recouped.

The spiral of debt A fresh start In 2018, the F+W company worked up In 2017, F+W collected $15 million for $67.7 million in sales, $22 million alone restructuring measures. According to coming from the publishing department. Osberg, all of said money was lost within Mint News Quarterly™ is produced However, according to the bankruptcy half a year due to mismanagement. As every three months and only petition, those numbers have to be a consequence, the entire management distributed with Currency News™. considered against the backdrop of a total team was replaced in the spring of 2018, of $105.2 million in active debts. (There and smaller branch publications such 10 Windmill Business Village, are said to be between 1,000 and 5,000 as ‘Blade’ as well as the e-commerce Brooklands Close, Sunbury, debtors – nobody can tell for certain, activities of ‘Keepsake Quilting’ were sold. TW16 7DY, UK the list itself fills 543 pages of the files!) The $7 million that were cleared were www.currency-news.com Available funds make up only $2.5 million. nothing but a drop in the ocean. How could this happen? Currently, F+W continues its business, Two opposite developments were the while an attempt is made to sell shares in cause. On the one hand, the number of order to be able to reconcile the debts. PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH MONEA advertisers and magazine subscribers has F+W Books is supposed to be sold at the decreased steadily over the years. Many end of May, the communities are scheduled types of media have experienced this, print to follow by mid-June. This may well result No part of this publication may be reproduced, newspapers in particular. The number of in the end of F+W. stored in a retrieval system or translated in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, subscribers decreased from 33.4 million It remains uncertain which departments of photocopying, recording or otherwise – without in 2015 to currently 21.5 million. Which the company will be sold successfully and the prior permission of the copyright holders. in turn also meant that the products The copyright is owned by the author. If no in what form the work of the magazines, author is mentioned the copyright is with became less attractive for advertisers. publishing companies and online platforms Dr. Ursula Kampmann. As a consequence, advertising revenues will continue. That also applies to Krause COPYRIGHT 2019. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED dropped from $20.7 million to $13.7 million Publications and its vast range of products in the same time span. Sponsors for coin collectors. The company management’s desperate attempts to be in the black by introducing innovative approaches were problematic at best. F+W played the e-commerce card: products were purchased, stored and

Maschinenfabrik GmbH since 1891 offered to customers in online shops.

6 MINT NEWS QUARTERLY