There was an outdoor fair going on over the weekend in downtown Helsinki. I went one day with the family. Often at such events, and this was no exception, there is a stand where one can strike their own coins. Of course I took the opportunity as did my son.
The options were copper or aluminum- we both took copper. It is a decent chunk too: 3mm thick and 25mm diameter. Here is the result (as usual the actual thing is much better than the scan) and the equipment.

btw: the token is an advertisement for the city of Hämeenlinna's medieval fair in august.

Did you etch the die yourself as well?

Now that's cool

How often did you have to hit that thing, Sir?

was it just one strike, or did you have to do it more often?

WOW that's neat!!! Never knew!!! Now only if I could try out the die that I have... *ahem* A broken die that I have...

No, my etch-a-sketch skills are not that advanced.





Only once. In fact I hit it too hard. The clasps holding the top die came off, causing it to shift and give the coin a nice scratch on the side with the text.

Why you didn't put your laurated bust on the obverse of the token?

I know... because your face can be put only on silver or gold...

Becuase it belongs on gold!

I'm pretty sure gold would be the best option as it is a soft metal too... I guess it's too cost prohibitive.

Lead is also a soft metal...

Nice token Hope u had Fun Doing That

Time for harder metals... like... steel, nickel, tungsten...

That is extremely cool!

Thats a neat thing to do, a real keepsake!

And of course there are those that collect these. Here is a link form the Finnish Numismatic Societies pages for the 2004 issues.

(Click the arrow on top to view the other page)

http://www.snynumis.fi/galleria/olkkonen/index.htm

Now, that sounds like a neat experience

I am impressed! That is way cool!

That's really cool! Your son must have loved it. Is your picture an obv/rev of 1 or is it both? And which one is yours and which is your son's?

Very nice experience and a copper too. WOW!

Did anyone think to 'over-strike' another coin? Seems to me a 2-euro piece would fit nicely...

I love how the hammer is chained to the stump so that it cannot walk away or be used a weapon against some Knight!

It is a photo of just mine: rev and obv. The hammer was a bit heavy for my son, so his resulted in a weaker strike.

Hahahaha overstrike!!! That would be so neat!!!!!!!!!

Maybe a 5 euro cent would be perfect for that purpose. I would love to see interesting overstriking

Very cool!

Beware..over the pond we've noted a few Viking coins minted over the last few years as a sales gimmick (Part of the York experience) being sold as the real thing.
When I dig my next hoard...after the Treasur Trove inquest ...I will sell them Cheaply to my CP buddies.

I smell L@@K Ultra-Rare ERROR! in the works.