Steel Substrate

Increase your coinage reliability.

Our nickel-plated and copper-plated steel substrate coin blanks are made using our proprietary high-speed electroplating process, producing a bright, high-quality finished coin blank.

Nickel- and Copper-plated


We can plate in single or multiple layers with various combinations of plated surfaces, typically using either steel or zinc as the base material. Our most circulated coin blanks, the US penny, is a copper-plated zinc coin that is produced at high volumes every year. The copper plating gives a reddish brown appearance to the coin. Nickel plating can be done on steel substrates as well as zinc-based alloys to give a shiny highly durable white finish to the coins. The nickel plating on ZincSecureĀ® is possible due to the special annealing process developed by ARTAZN.

Brass- and Bronze-plated


We utilize an alloy-plating technology in both brass and bronze-plated blanks, yielding a more consistent, reliable product for most typical commercial coinage applications. For brass plating, we combine copper and zinc and for bronze plating, we combine copper and tin. The finished alloy is then deposited onto the blank surface in a plating bath.

Other companies use a diffusion process that results in a less consistent and reliable product. Our capabilities include single- and multiple-plating layers for our brass-plated blanks, as well as bronze finishes in yellow, red, and white. Typical base materials for our bronze-plated blanks are zinc, steel, or nickel. The substrate is plated with a copper layer followed by a bronze layer.

For more resources on Coinage

Learn More