VOCABULARY TERM: DIE VAULT

Moisture is the enemy in a die vault, it must be kept dry and moderate temperature. If not rust will occur on the face of a die. The dies are arranged on sturdy shelves. In this die vault the die numbers are painted on the side of the die. Photo: Medallic Art Company.

Die Vault. A vault for the special use of die storage, usually on well supported shelving and in controlled atmosphere to prevent rusting. Dies are stored in pairs (obverse and reverse) and is best to be stored with a struck piece between them. Usually the dies are accompanied by any special tooling – collars, blanking or piercing tools, roller dies, jigs, masks, nests and such (if these are not stored in their own special tool bins). Die vaults should be dehumidified thus contain some kind of mechanism to remove moisture from the air. See DIE RETENTION, RUSTED DIES.

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