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Die sinkers and presses

ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,113 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited December 31, 2018 6:59AM in U.S. Coin Forum

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

Comments

  • ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,113 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 31, 2018 7:57AM

    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?

  • NysotoNysoto Posts: 3,818 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 31, 2018 8:00AM

    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.

    Robert Scot: Engraving Liberty - biography of US Mint's first chief engraver
  • BuffaloIronTailBuffaloIronTail Posts: 7,479 ✭✭✭✭✭

    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

    "I tell them there's no problems.....only solutions" - John Lennon
  • GluggoGluggo Posts: 3,566 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thank you for this topic. Very interesting.

  • Insider2Insider2 Posts: 14,452 ✭✭✭✭✭

    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.

  • ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,113 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 9, 2019 10:01PM

    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.

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