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Old 03-25-2008, 08:40 PM
Tom Maringer's Avatar
Tom Maringer Tom Maringer is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Springdale Arkansas
Posts: 48
Default Re: Engraving coining dies

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gail
Tom,
It would be interesting to see some of the antique dies and hubs.
gailm
Hi Gail:
I wasn't kidding when I mentioned several thousands. I was able to purchase the entire tooling collection of handmade master hubs from a firm that operated from the 1920s to the 1990s... over 5000 pieces. There are so many pieces that I am struggling just to try to categorize them in boxes so that I can find "that one" again when I want it. Basically when a new job came in... say... a medal for a horse show... the engraver would make a hub in the positive of the horse, then press it into the die blank, and then add text and other features. The hub would go into the archive and become available for use if a similar project ever came up.

But now that all this sort of work is jobbed out to China or Taiwan, it's all done by computer controlled machining... the modeling work tends to look "flat" and the tooling marks usually show. Nobody cares anymore. These tooling collections are hitting the scrapyard sometimes.

I could show some pics... but there is SO MUCH. I would love to do a database catalog with linked pictures... but the time it would take!

I will try to get some pics of a few hubs, and their matching dies, and the coins made from those dies so that you'll get the idea of how it works.

Be well!

Tom
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