Die sinkers and presses

Zoins

There are many Civil War Tokens for people listing themselves as "die sinkers", but I'm not sure what that entails.

Can a die sinker be thought of as a coin press operator from that era?

Did they generally have their own presses or did they use other people's presses? I didn't envision each die sinker having a press like the US Mint's steam coining press, or even the large screw presses which required several people to operate. Did they have those large presses, or access to large presses owned by others? Or did they have smaller, different presses they used?

Here's a photo of the US Mint's first steam coinage press.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Peale

Nysoto

"Die Sinker" was a term used in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a person who created dies for striking coins, medals, and tokens. Engraving was just part of the skill needed to create a coinage die.

Robert Scot's 1794 engraving report to Congress gave some explanation of this function in describing his role as Engraver:

"Engraving and sinking all original Dies, raising and finishing all Hubbs that are struck out of them, and raising and finishing all punches that may be requisite to the completion of Dies or Hubbs, letter punches excepted; These may be imported or procured from those of that profession."

An original (master) die requires both the use of a graver, and for punches to "sink" some of the design elements. Later (after ~1836), a master hub was created to "sink" a master die, and then a working hub was "raised" in relief that was used to "sink" the design into working dies.

A "Pressman" was the person operating presses, screw or steam, which was a different function that a die sinker.

Zoins

That's great info @Nysoto!

So "sinking" meant sinking a design into a die, not sinking a die on to a planchet.

Did most private die sinkers have their own presses or would they have the dies taken somewhere else to be used?

I'm wondering specifically and in general. For example, in the Philadelphia area, there were a lot of die sinkers. Were their dies all struck at the US Mint? Or were there other facilities in the Philadelphia area?

Nysoto

In the early 1800's, the US Mint had the only presses capable of striking a coin or medal in Philadelphia. By mid-1800's and the Civil War, I would expect some die sinkers for tokens etc. (and counterfeiters) to have their own presses. Most of my research is the screw press era <1836, so I can't answer specifically after that.

BuffaloIronTail

I'm sure it was done outside the Mint, but it would have to have been done in a shop of some kind. "Sinking" a die requires a lot of pressure, and heat to soften the die for the next "squeeze".

Of course, saying it could be done and actually getting it done are indeed two different things.

Pete

Gluggo

Thank you for this topic. Very interesting.

Insider2

I know what a "diesinker" is. The reason I have not posted until now is I did not believe the engraver struck the dies he made. However, back then I'll bet the guys on CWTs who advertised as diesinkers probably made the die and struck the token too.

The OP's question is a perplexing one and probably involved some overlap.

Zoins

Old Thread Update

Just ran across this good article:

Richard Trested’s Tokens & His Die-Sinking Legacy

I thought it was neat that die sinking was listed in his obituary.