I think the making of dies was not exactly as might be imagined. Certainly there would have to be a fairly standard version of the emperor's head, but the lettering could be produced – in the die, not the coins – by stamping the letters one by one. I'm sure that by the time coins were expected to be recognised by the users, steel was able to be softened, punched, and hardened. The coinage was for many years a guarantee, not of value per coin, exactly, but a guarantee of origin, to be measured by weight. After all, we still measure it in Pounds – a distant echo of the idea.
And no, bronze would not have been hard enough or strong enough.
It was only in the era of steam presses and pantograph die-sinkers that coins were expected to look really identical.
Swords were a different matter. The blade would be made by a skilled blacksmith, but they would have been engraved, or inlayed, or etched, individually, but only for the top brass. And I don't think etching was common until chemistry took over from alchemy – about 1500 AD.
One other point – there was no one Roman Mint. There were mints all over the empire – at least half a dozen in little isolated Britannia. This continued in the middle ages – Offa, who ruled the Midlands, had his own, for example.
Cheers, Tim