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Old 03-25-2008, 03:33 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 Engraving coining dies

Hello!
I found my way here because of an email from Steve Lindsey. I'm a knifemaker from way back, but became interested in coinmaking about eight years ago and that hobby has now gotten entirely out of hand! I scanned the forums here and the only topics addressing coins were those talking about carving or engraving ON coins. I'm interested in engraving the dies used to MAKE coins.

My particular thematic interest is fantasy coins... that is... coins that are from fantasy, fictional, or mythical places... like Camelot or Middle-Earth etc. In pursuing this interest I have been exposed to many techniques used over the centuries to create coin dies. Aside from engraving there is also etching, punching, milling, and hobbing. Each has their place depending on the type of piece being created. The idea is to use the same techniques that would have been used in the time period being emulated.

I have a website and there is a virtual shop tour at http://www.shirepost.com/ShopTour.html
As you can see I have become rather enamored of old presses. I consider myself very much a beginner at engraving. I have personally engraved only a few of the die sets I use. Master die engraver Greg Franck-Weiby has done most of them. I also have hobbed dies from master hubs engraved by Ron Landis and Stan Pearson... two of the top die engravers. Here's a fantasy Leif Eiricsson silver penny made on dies engraved in 10th century style by Greg Franck-Weiby.

Perhaps I merely have missed the threads talking about engraving coin dies... but if not, I would think that it would be something very interesting to many people here. The idea is that you can lavish your work upon a tiny space... then create thousands of extremely precise renditions of that art which can be sold at very reasonable prices. Coins... medals... flatware... belt-buckles... and all manner of other presswork all depend on die-makers. It is a trade that is fading with the advent of computer controlled machining. And of course, there's a lot of really awful work out there coming from overseas. There is a terrible dearth of diesinkers in this country right now.

I now have a collection of eight presses, from 5 ton to 320 ton capacity... and several thousand antique dies and hubs. It's been a marvelous education to study the old dies made the old way by hand. The ingenuity used to solve certain problems are evident in the tools, and the toolmarks show how things were accomplished.

I'd enjoy hearing whether there are any others interested in this particular offshoot of the engraver's art.

Be well!

Tom Maringer
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