St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-16
new SILVER COINS,
They Will Be First-Water
Beauties in All Essential
Particulars.
Patterns Decided On by the
Directors Of Uncle Sans
Mint.
The Very Delicate and Care
full Work Done by the
Designer.
Making the Models and the
Turning Out Sill
YER Coins.

| ulH utpdIllueHI. OOIn6 dlJSTdIlODS OF
detail remain to be made, but they are
trihing. A Star writer saw yesterday
medalliOns representing the faces and
backs of these coming coins. They
were in plaster of paris, and each twelve
inches in diameter, being casts from
originals in wax produced by the en-
craving force at the Philadelphia mint
Permission to examine them was only
given on condition that no description
whatever should be given in print of
the designs. All that can be said here,
therefore, is that they are very beauti-
full. The reverse, which like the diverse,
will be the same for all three coins, is
a novel conception, and most StrIkingly
artistic. Both back and face have
met with certain minor criticisms, al
though in the main they are highly ap-
proved at the treasury. In order to as
certain whether these criticisms are
good ones, Director of the Mint Leech
has ordered fac-similes of the medalliOns
to be made in Philadelphia with the al
terations suggested. The latter will be
duly compared with the others, and
choice will be made finally i'll accord
ance with what is judged to be the
best.
Making the Models.
: 1t was only by making these medallion
mOdelJOn so large scale that it was
| pOSSll 81 to secure the exquisite fineneSS
of execution in the dies for the coins.
| The designer first mixed quantity of
beeSwaX with certain proportion of
resinOus gum and small quantity of
the best vermilliOn, melting them to-
gether and combining them thoroughly
| by stirring. Gum is essential for
1 xin fp,ornriol hor
ency, while color renders it easier for
the artist to see what he is producing.
! Next he poured out the mixture into
| cold water. and when it was cold
| kneaded it like dough until the ipgredi-
| ents were mingled into a homogeneous
mass. Then he drew on slate an out
line of the medallion to be made, and
within it built up disk of the thickness
desired.
On this disk he executed OH large
| scale relief model of the face or back
of the coin. The work was done mostly
with little tools of lockwood, but it is
quite usual for an expert in this line to
! grow one of his thumb nails very long
and employ 1t in delicate portions of his
task. 1t is a sensitive organ of touch,
and often will express his intention bet
ter than an instrument that has to be
held. In delineating hair a brush of
| fine bristles serves best to give the
| effect.
When the original model had been
! produced in this way an electrOtype
was made from it in metal. The plaS-
ter images shown by the director of the
mint were merely reproductions of such
electrCtypeS. From the electrOtyDes
the die for the coin is made by very
1 simple process. A machine does it
with infinitely more accuracy than hui
man hands could. The contrivance is
on the same principle as 'Danto-
graph for drawing. While blunt point
Is guided by the hand over every curve
and sinuOsity of the medallion, another
point tipped with diamond and rapid
| revolving gnaws away the surface of
steel disc precisely the size Of the coin
that is to be. The mechanism is so ar
| ranged that the diamond point grindS
out on small scale an exact reproduc-
ton of the medallion. Whatever is
coarse in the latter becomes beautifully
fine in the diminished copy.
Making the Dies.
Of course, this little copy in steel is
in relief, like the medallion-in fact.
| cameo. The die must be an intagIiO.
Therefore, the cameo. which is of hard
metal. is laid upon piece of soft steel,
| and the two are squeezed together with
an enormous pressure. When they are
taken apart the design is impressed per-
| fectly in iutagllO upon the soft steel.
| L. only remains to harden the latter by
tempering, and the die is already for
use. Each ''blank'' of silver as it is
turned out at the mint-a simple disk
of the requisite siZe-iS placed beneath
huge stamp. On the under side Of the
stamp is the Gle for the diverse of the
| coin, while on the "dnvil' is the die for
the reverse. Between the two the
piece of money receives i'll an instant
the treasury imprintS which make it
good for about p per cent more than its
material is actually worth at present
market rates for silver.
As soon as the medaIliOns now in the
hands of the director of the mint have
been fully approved they will be at once
| returned to Philadelphia and repro.
! duced in the shape of dies. This will
not require many weeks, and so it NAV
be expected that within a very few
months the new quarters, dimes and
| hfty-cent pieces will be circulating
throughout the country as small change.
One will necessarily find more satisfac-
ton in spending these beautiful coins
than is to be derived from squandering
silver pieces of the present unloyelv
| designs. No models will be attempted
at present fer the new dollar piece that
is contemplated. Mr.. Leech prefers TO
wait while and find out how his first
effort takes with the people.
Turning Out Silver Coins.
The process of turning out silver
coins from the raw material is a veIv
| interesting one. At the mint the metal
! arrives directly from the mines through
| the United States assay offices. 1t is
first dissolved in big tank with nitric
acid, precipitated from which in pure
| state it looks like so much plaster of
paris. Pressed into thick round blocks.
it goes to another room to be melted in
! black lead crucibleS among hot Goals.
| Incidentally to the melting 10 per cent
of copper is mixed with it, such being
the proportion of that baser metal in ali
United States coins. In molten state
the precious fluid is poured into iron
moulds, from which it comes out i'm the
shape of bricks
These bricks. rendered pure by the
| processes described, are sliced into
thick strips, which are rolled thinner
and thinner until they are precisely the
thickness of the coins required. Then
the strips are passed beneath punches.
which rapidly punch out of them discs
that. are destined to be pieces of money.
Each punch cuts out 100 dollars OF 200
dimes every minute. The blanks thus
made are washed and then milIed, the
latter process simply giving TO each coin
its raised edge. Next they are softened
by being heated red-hot in an oven so