Above: Ptolemy II Tetradrachm circa 300 BC features Ptolemy I on front and an Eagle standing on a thunderbolt on back
High Relief and 3-D coinage began with the ancient Greeks and Romans. Large silver staters and tetradrachms from Rhodes, Athens, Macedon, Ptolemaic Egypt, Rome and Constantinople were often produced in high relief using hand-struck dies. Large bronze Ptolemaic coins, some weighing several ounces, feature the bust of Zeus on the front and an eagle or double-eagle on the reverse and were also struck in high relief. Special issue ultra-high relief coins and medallions of the Greeks and Romans were struck in gold, silver and bronze.
Below: Silver tetradrachm, Greek Thasos, features ivy-lad bust of Dionysus and Hercules with club and lion skin
Ancient coin-makers used high relief to make the leaders and symbols stand out. Sometimes a die was double-struck giving more relief to the coin. A few, rare large coins were actually molded rather than struck, with hot metal poured into special molds. After the Greeks and Romans, many nations used high relief techniques to mint special coins. A good example is the 1907 high relief Saint Gaudian US $20 Gold Double Eagle piece and the 2016 Isle of Man Silver Reverse Proof Angel. More recently, true 3-D Ultra High Relief (UHR) Coins have been minted at US and World government and private mints. A great example is “Sound Barrier”, a 5 oz silver 3-D UHR coin featuring a fighter breaking the sound barrier with its top on front and its bottom on back of the coin.
