[Jewelry making - Article 00642] - Re: [Orchid] Ancient coin technology

[tjbuggey]

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    Dear folks, Thank you for these thoughtful and insightful responses.
    There are a lot of other interesting things to learn here. I am a
    carver and my wife a stained glass artist. But, back to the coins.
    Let me comment on some of the comments. 

    =95 Crystal magnifiers have been found. Two specific finds are
    particularly noteworthy, one in Egypt and one at Pompeii. One was
    found in an artist studio, the other in an engraver's workshop. I
    have that journal article. 

    =95 Metals: The Romans had a crude steel, but in terms of hardness and
    strength it wasn't much better than the bronze. 

    =95 The myopic theory is quite plausible as almost all mint work was
    done with slave labor. I guess they had vocational "counselors" back
    then too. I guess they had an ancient Snellen Chart eye test as part
    of their screening. 

    =95 From what I have read and been told, the flans of the coins were
    prepared separately and then either struck cold or heated. This may
    vary between bronze and silver (and I assume the softer gold). I
    have several silver coins with double strikes. 

    =95 Quantity: Hard to imagine, but the Rome mint alone produced
    several hundred million coins a year at it height in the 3rd
    century! And, there were mints from London to Shanghai. (That's
    partly why for the price of a 1909 VDB penny I can buy 300 late
    Roman Bronze coins in nice condition - and all hand struck.) 

    =95 There must be some connection to intaglio carving. 

    =95 Hardly any remains of mints remains. There are a few dies and
    almost nothing in print. They must have been very protective of mint
    secrets. 

    Once again thank you so much for your comments. I am kind of
    obsessed with finding out as much as I can about this lost process.
    For your viewing enjoyment let me link to my site on the Most
    Beautiful coins of Antiquity. This is page two - just eliminate the
    2 in the url and you can view the first page if you like. It is the
    bottom coin on page 2 that fits into this discussion =3D 10 mm and .3
    g. http://www.people.memphis.edu/~tjbuggey/beaut2.html 

Thanks for a 3rd time,
Tom

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