Who makes the Master Dies at the US Mint?

mdwoods

Or the original engraving that if then used to make the "Master Die". Does one person engrave it, or do several work on it? Thanks, I have always wondered about this. mdwoods

gmarguli

There was a coin show on some station (Discovery? History?) and they showed them being made. I believe one person engraves it and then it is "finished" by several others.

Conder101

I would say it is done by several people each one handling part of the process. The engraver prepares the original model, someone else prepares the epoxy moldel and the engraver touches it up. Yet several other employees handles the reduction from epoxy model to master hub (it takes a day or two to make the reduction so they work in shifts). Either another employee of the engraver touch up the hub. Someone else handles the hardening of the hub. Then a press operator handles the hubbing of the Master die which then goes back to the previous person for hardening. I'd say a minimum of six people altogether and three departments, engraving (model and reduction), foundry, and coining (Hubbing press).

airplanenut

Greg- it is the Discovery channel... I taped it

It goes from the engraver through lots of people until the final mold/model is made... then a "janvier" machine (the one the US uses is 90 years old) transfers the design onto what will become the master hub- the master hub, never made more than once, is used to make hubs, which are used to make the actual dies. This will be part of my research paper

Jeremy

mdwoods

Thanks guys. I appreciate all the info. I will have to watch for the show. I am sure it will be on again. mdwoods