Gary Beals of Segovia, Spain submitted the following punny report on his interactions with Dick Johnson while compiling his dictionary of
Spanish numismatic terms. -Editor
I have been upset by that Dick Johnson!
He ran me through a device that caused me to thicken around the edges of my sides so now I can get next to others very easily. My face will
not wear as much because of that. He has raised the rim on both sides around my edge. Suddenly my burrs are gone, I am more perfectly
round, my edges are smooth and rounded and my edge is thickened. I am a Type II blank. I now have dreams of Matthew Boulton. Some guy
called me a wire edge but there’s no proof of that.
Welcome to numismatics where all the words you grew up with now have a different meaning.
Boulton's rimmer (the British word for upsetting) did five things: removed the burrs, smoothed the edge, rounded the edge, made the
blanks perfectly round, and thicken the edge.
Dick Johnson also got me stoned — and then helped me get dressed
To get stoned numismatically you apply an abrasive to a metallic surface such as a die to remove raised metal, imperfections, or to smooth
the surface. Jewelry supply firms furnish abrasive stones – made of aluminum oxide or silicon carbide – in a dozen different forms and
grits for use by hand. It also supplies these abrasives mounted on shafts for power tools. For most diework stones of square shaped sticks
are used. These can be honed and sharpened to a point, useful for stoning a tiny area (they are even called pencil stones). These
are ideal for removal of small imperfections on a die. Stones can also be used for polishing.
After a die has been treated with such an abrasive stone it is said to be dressed.
Check back next week and learn how Dick causes hot shortness!
OK, I’ll tell you now: Hot shortness is cracks around edges of cast blanks (or cast objects) caused by different melting points of
impurities. Ancient coins often display evidence of such hot shortness – they were often made of impure metal and the blanks were heated
before striking. Low melting point metals, such as lead, were squeezed out during striking leaving the fissures around the edge.
Yours in shameless numismatic silliness, Gary Beals Segovia, Spain
Wayne Homren, Editor
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