How were dies cut for teensy coins?
topstuf
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That thread on the cool bust half dime got me curious.
There must've been some way to get that much detail onto such a dinky palette.
Did they have reducing lathes and such, and was it machine engraving?
I'd guess pantographs existed.
Too even to cut with hand gravers I'd think.
But I don't know.
Can't even figure out why it took me this long to be curious about the process.
???
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You mean pre-Janvier?
--Severian the Lame
Of course, Mr Valjean.
Done by children with their little hands.
With teensy tools of course
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The fine details on a dollar die are often just as intricate as the fine details on a minuscule die.
It's a fine craft, and one that is probably being lost in this day of CNC everything.
I agree that Engraving is almost a lost art. Take a look at some of the early commemorative stamps under high magnification. You can almost count the eyelashes on the folks in an artistic panorama measuring about 5/8" X 1 3//8."
The work of skilled craftsmen.
Trained spiders.....The little red ones.
Careful manual work with very sharp hard engraving tools under magnification. Cutting a master die could take weeks.
That makes sense. Sorta like fine gun engraving.
Nope, the Keebler elves run a gulag at the South pole. Very top secret stuff. Peace Roy
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with teensey tools
BHNC #203
The times of craftsmanship in many fields is passed or passing quickly. Such skills are no longer in demand and people are not even considering such a career. Even the trades are suffering because of the mantra 'You must have a college degree.'.... This drives up the cost of plumbers, carpenters, mechanics etc..... Skilled trades people make excellent wages and the need for these resources is very real. My wife works in education (college professor) and sees enrollment dropping every year... significantly the last three years. So perhaps we are seeing a change developing... Cheers, RickO
I've wondered the same, the hallmarks on the silver, especially in London starting around the 1780's has incredible detail and those marks are much smaller than the gold dollars!
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For the draped bust and heraldic eagle reverse, if one does a scaled overlay, there is fairly consistent proportion maintained through the smaller denominations of the central designs. This consistency was more precise than could be achieved by freehand drawing or engraving reductions.
Robert Scot engraved the original dies for these designs. His extensive prior engraving experience included the engraving of miniatures, which involve accurately reducing larger drawings and engraving to a small size, maintaining accurate proportions "It is a leading principle, in which every person, conversant in designing has agreed, without the perfect knowledge of proportions, nothing can be produced but monstrous and extravagant figures."
The drawing pantographs were first developed in 1603, which Scot could have used if he had the tools, but I believe the method that he did use did not require the fabrication of precise tools. This method utilizes a graphic projection, drawing a grid over the full size design and projecting two lines to a vanishing point. The chosen design size is done with a compass between the two lines, and then projecting a scaled-down grid within the circle. The major design index points could then be accurately scaled to the smaller size.
I had learned this back in the days of drafting board drawings with technical drawing techniques. It is easy. Even easier now with CATIA.
Scot was capable of microscopic precision with engraving. The first plate of many illustrations that Scot engraved for Dobson's Encyclopedia shows an Acarus, or a common mite, greatly enlarged. What looks like a speck of dirt to the left is actually a life-sized engraving of a mite (check it out, but use a loupe).
You need the right tools. Medium ball point pens don't work very well