A Pair of Coined Silver Dolphins Fresh From the Press

[george wilson]

I am posting 2 images,to show you that leaving the dolphin bright is very hard to read. A bit of blacking makes the small details like the small fishes read easily.

My wife,for whose business I made this,has decided to leave the extra squeezed metal there. She will file up the edges wavy like the deckled edge of hand made paper and leave it that way.

She also thinks that rather than make this a locket,we will just use the dolphin as a necklace. It will be less expensive to sell for sure.

We will send it off and see if this piece can be cast,or if the fine details will get blurred or lost. It seems likely that I will have to hand coin each one of these pieces by hand. This takes some time,as I anneal,press,anneal,press,anneal,put a patterned metal against the back,and press again,to put a patterned design on the back of the piece. The press is hand pumped up,which takes MY weight (not my wife's small weight) to bear down on the handle.

On the blackened image,you can see that the Sun's outline,which goes beyond the border,has been filed off. Some filing of the border will also be needed where the Sun ray touched the border. Those will be eliminated,the deckled edge made more wavy,and loops attached for the neck chain.

Remember,the image is 1 1/8" tall,and about 5/8" wide from border to border.

 

[pdentrem]

Very nice. I like it. I do not know whether the detail will show up in a casting. I collect WW1 cap badges and they were mostly stamped. Usually they are copper or brass and plated or washed with some color. The few that were cast do have good detail but I do not know how much is there vs the artist rendishen(sp).

Question why not find a used 20+ ton stamping press? With all the plants shutting down there has to be some presses available, sure would be easier on you.
Pierre

 

[Tony Wells]

Nice, George. I could probably get you a press for the cost of the freight if you were interested.

 

[Bill Gruby]

As always George, the detail is spot on. Just beautiful.

"Billy G"

 

[AdVirMachina]

Just gorgeous!

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[george wilson]

I wound up coining these. Casting did not look good enough to suit us. It takes a few hours to coin a small bunch. But,I'm retired anyway.

 

[davidh]

what is the material ? who cuts the original ? beautiful little thing. . . for sure.

 

[pebbleworm]

I'm interested in your press. I've been squeezing out some ca. 1920 bicycle badges from thin brass in a home-made hydraulic press (I need to post some pictures...) but embossing and coining has been a long term, back burner interest of mine.

 

[george wilson]

Here'a a picture of my 50 ton press with a Northern hydraulic jack. I have to use 2 hardened steel plates about 4"x4"x1" to squeeze things between. Regular mild steel gets dents and hollow places pressed into it which would crack my die.

Hopefully you can see the press adequately in these 2 pictures. It is just a very strong steel cage to hold the jack in. The picture of the dolphin is the die itself,with a rule and a stamp to see the size of it.

This is as good as I can make this post: It keeps screwing up every time I edit it,and some of the words get lost.

And yes,my wife says I do not have enough rear end!

 

[davidh]

let me tell you a question. . . you didn't say who or how the die was engraved. . . . or what material your pressing into, and do you have a air compressor available ? why do i say this you ask ? because a air over hydraulic pump connected to a used portapower cylinder would make the job so much easier on your back, but a little harder on your ears i just happen to have both, used, and the cylinder would be free if one was to buy the pump for say $150, with a long hose and couplings. just a thought to go along with my original question.