The bronze medals are largely copper because burnished bronze and gold are similar in color, and the mint did not want any confusion as to which medal an athlete receives.

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And yet, somehow, they found time this week to debate things like whether or not we should mint coins to celebrate the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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The blank planchets are not made at the Mint, which hasn't had the production capacity for this stage of the minting process since the budget cuts of 1981.

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"This is not the first time the mint is producing at high demand, " says Beth Deisher, editor of Coin World.

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