Minting tools for coin and medal production from the 15th to the early 20th century
“The condition and therefore the main piece in any coinage is the embossing die.”
The collection of coin and medal striking tools in the Coin Cabinet Vienna begins in the 15th century, with the most recent objects dating from the early 20th century. A part of it is shown in the permanent exhibition and can now be accessed online in the IKMK. These historical tools, which are among the best known of their kind in the world, document the technical development of European coin and medal production from the “Hammer-Amboss”, through minting with rollers, pocket work, clip or drop movement, spindle work (“Balancier”) and “Kniehebelpresse”, to modern automatic minting. The collection thus represents a complete chronology of the history of embossing technology.
It also includes the preliminary stages of die making, such as partial dies (characteristic of die making in the 16th century), punches and moulds (they were used for providing new dies after being lowered into soft iron and then hardened), but also the embossing rings which, since the advent of the spindle work, were needed to produce decorations, recessed or raised lettering. When they were worn or cracked by the embossing process, they were seen as reconditioning material for new tools. This is also one reason why only a few coinage tools have survived from antiquity and the Middle ages. It was not until the 16th century that new minting dies were gradually archived. On the basis of the minting tools, it is still possible today to draw conclusions about the design steps in the production of the coins and medals.
As early as the reign of Maximilian I, individual minting tools began to be stored, and it was not until the reign of Emperor Charles VI that a historical collection of dies was kept at the Viennese Court. The oldest specimens come from the mints of Hall, Kremnitz and Joachimsthal (Jáchymov, CZ), a few from Prague and Kuttenberg (Kutná Hora, CZ). Minting tools from the Viennese mint are found from the 17th century onwards.
Image: Die, Maria Theresa (1740-1780), Thaler, 1780 (MK ST 538)
