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Die basining question

6 posts in this topic

In preparing dies that required the center to be a little lower than the outside, such as for Morgan dollars, was the rotating abrasive disc itself curved (rather than flat) to allow for the proper "dishing" of the die? This would require the die to be precisely aligned with the center of the curved disc while the disc rotated against it, like a lathe. And, if the abrasive used was fine enough, this could result in a PL surface, correct?

 

 

 

 

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thanks.

 

I am also assuming that from time to time a die that had become abraded from use might be re-basined, possibly creating another die with PL surfaces.

 

Also, in "From MIne to Mint" RWB writes of an employee at the SF mint who would basin Trade Dollar dies while hand held using several different basining discs. Quite a feat of hand-eye coordination. Now, he may have been "touching them up" to improve the striking characteristics as opposed to the "initial" basining but to me it's still pretty amazing that someone was trusted to do this by hand, given that the dies weren't easy to replace. Fascinating stuff!

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The mints had some very skillful people. It's unfortunate we know so little about them or about their talents. Most of the details of die repair and maintenance are unknown - even to the best modern practitioners. Maybe someone will find a "Diary of a Die Repairer" someplace.... ;)

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Thanks for the replies. I'm sure that there is a lot about the day to day operations at the mints that will never be known. Many of these people were true artisans... they had a feel for the materials they worked with, and how those materials interacted with each other. Skills and techniques were passed from the old hands to the new people... at least the new people who were quick studies (I suspect some were not, ref. the numerous amputee Bison hobbling around on nickel reverses.)

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