5- Iron coin dies and a casefor a bronzedie. Bronzeand coppercoinshad to be struckfrom iron rather than bronze dies. The die caseswere also made in the harder metal. Sinceiron rusts easily,the few iron dies preservedrarely bear morethan a traceof the engravedor puncheddesigns. Such is the case with the four dies pictured here, which were probablyfor coins of the early Romanimperialperiod. Iron die casestook the hammerblows,providedautomatic alignmentfor the two dies, and permitted discardingof worndieswithoutsubstantialrecastingof equipment. Madrid,Institutode Valenciade Don Juan. MINTING GREEK AND ROMAN COINS continued 6. Impressionsfromdies for gold and silveraurei or denariiof the Romanempire(Augustusthrough MaximinusI- ca. 26 B.c.-A.D.235) and a Gallicsilvercoin of the first centuryb.c. The next to last die in the bottomrow, for a bronzefollis of ConstantiusChlorus (a.d. 292-306),was probablydiscardedbecauseof damage.In spite of corrosionmany Julio-Claudiandies still show the excellent styleof the originalcoin. BibliothèqueNationaleand MuséeMonetaire,Paris. 103