Restoring a vintage Denver Mint coining press to operational condition

We have the press fully up and running on a new project. We just launched a Kickstarter for our MISTBORN series, licensed with fantasy author Brandon Sanderson. Here's a link to the Kickstarter project! http://kck.st/2yvRlea
In the Mistborn world, the small denomination copper coins are called "clips" and the the large brass coins are called "boxings". Magicians use them to perform various feats, such as flying... so they are important to the story. We have been working with Brandon and his team for over a year now on the designs for these. The introductory video has a clip of the restored Ferracute press running, in production on the era-2 Boxings!
The inscription is in a language that Brandon invented for his fantasy world. Boxings of Elendel feature the The Lord Mistborn in the fertile Elendel valley surrounded by the words "ELENDEL", "ONE BOXING" On the reverse is the First Central Bank surrounded by the symbol for the number 1. The same weight as the historical Era 1 Boxings, these are thick solid brass coins with a satisfying interrupted-reeded edge. Both of the Era 1 coins are broadstruck on an older style press, since they hearken (in the story) from a thousand years or more ago. Both Era-2 coins are collar struck on our Ferracute press for a more modern look and feel. There are actually three variants on the Era-2 boxing. The image shown (and the standard issue) is type 3. The type 1 die suffered a catastrophic brockage after just 450 strikes, snapping the smooth collar and cracking both dies. Those have been set back in reserve for collectors. Type 2 used the recut new dies (with some design changes) with a finely reeded collar. That collar turned out to have too much friction to eject reliably, so a third collar was made with deeper smoother reeding. That combination of die#2 and collar #3 is continuing to work. Mintage on that coin is at about 3,500 at present, using up our blank supply. We're now preparing to make more blanks.

Please visit our Kickstarter and/or website!

Have fun!
Tom Maringer
Shire Post Mint

 

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Very nice guys.

 

I just logged in and realized my last post was some years ago. It's been a busy time and much has happened! The biggest news is that we have built a new building in West Fork Arkansas (about 1 mile from I-49) and now have a showroom and museum open to the public! It was a long hard effort getting the building put up and then moving and installing all the equipment, but it is SO much better here than the old place. In Springdale we were stuffed in a 30 x 60 (1800 sq ft) shop and there was barely room to move between pieces of equipment. Now we have an 80 x90 building (7200 sq ft). About half of that is the mint workshop and the rest is showroom, offices, inventory and shipping space. The museum on the mezzanine level has a balcony that looks over the shop floor, and features displays about various aspects of minting, some antique equipment, and a selection of things we've made.

The newest press restoration is a classic 1897 Ferracute E-52 120-ton up-acting knuckle press, which came to us in deplorable condition from a musical instrument factory in Elkhart Indiana where it was being used to form clarinet key parts. (we know this from bits and pieces recovered from the inch-thick grease and dirt that had accumulated) We stripped it completely down to the bare metal, fabricated replacements for several broken parts, re-worked the die-holders and clutch, and of course re-painted in a LOTR inspired theme.

Also new, and the most modern piece of equipment in-house, is a laser die-cutting machine. The manufacturer tells us it is the same machine used by the US mint to cut "real" dies. Only thing... they wouldn't share the software to run it! So we have had to basically figure it all out on our own. We still use traditional engraving techniques for some projects, but for a lot of the work we do, like golf-ball markers for tournaments, the laser is all we need.


But if you're ever traveling cross-country, we're just off I-49 in West Fork Arkansas, about 30 minutes north of I-40, or an hour south of I-74. Just look for the round green door! We have a coffee-tea hut and a barbecue food-truck parked out front.