Definition

• Latten.  Brass, or brass-like alloy in sheets hammered or rolled to less than 1/64th inch thick. White latten is sheet tin (or iron covered with tin). Obviously a composition this thin cannot have different designs on both sides. The obverse is present on the reverse as a mirror image like a bracteate. Because of their thinness latten medals were made for insertion in box medals. Low cost coins or medals struck from this cheap composition are called billon.

  excerpted with permission from

  An Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology

  For Artists, Makers, Collectors and Curators

  COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY D. WAYNE JOHNSON

  Roger W. Burdette, Editor

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