In fact, anyone can make their own - that's one of the points of it. That allows its production to be more decentralized, as in anyone can start their own version for their area. Instructions are on the site.
Interesting.
In centuries gone by, merchants could accept coins with little fear of being fleeced because the coin's issuer, the government, stood by it's weight and purity and therefore its value.
But with this decentralized model, what's to prevent a cheat from pouring or drawing his own thinner silver and gold or to make alloys with a less expensive metal? And who's to track down the cheat? Surely not ShireSilver. So it's up to the merchant to be able to discern real gold and silver from fakes and in the right amount.
If we are to believe the movies, prospectors in California and Alaska would walk into the general store and place a few nuggets of gold on the scale. The merchant would weigh it and accredit the prospector's account so he could buy his grub and supplies. It was up to the merchant to know the difference between real gold and fools gold or other cheating.
So do you advocate the return to the days where it's up to each of us to discern if the money is real?
This discussion reinforces something. The most shocking and significant aspect of bitcoin is the extent to which the possibility of cheating has been eliminated.