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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 2899813, member: 112&quot;]I wish there were some ! Then I&#039;d be all too happy to post them. Many years ago I found the information describing the die polishing process in a copy of <i>Numismatist</i> published in 1917 I think it was. Other than that, I&#039;ve never even seen or been able to find the information in a book or modern article and I used to own one of the most extensive numismatic libraries that just about any private collector ever had. Anyway, back then, as well as before and after, they used large zink plates impregnated with various grits of diamond dust paste (depending on which stage of the polishing they were doing at the time). And that&#039;s something else that a lot of folks don&#039;t realize, it&#039;s not all done in one operation. They&#039;d start out using a course grit paste to accomplish the first stage of polishing. Then use a finer grit, and then a finer grit, and so on until the polishing was complete.</p><p><br /></p><p>The zinc plate was installed in a machine much like a turntable on a record player which spun it at a high rate of speed. The dies were rigidly held by another machine which would lower the dies until they came into contact with the plate thus enabling the polishing to occur. </p><p><br /></p><p>That basic method was used well back into the 1800&#039;s (never could find out exactly how far back) and it continued to be used until even today really. </p><p><br /></p><p>Though in today&#039;s world they have changed things just a bit - now they use large brush pads and felt pads at various stages instead of zinc plates - but it&#039;s the same basic process, large pads small dies. Here&#039;s a screen shot, click on the image and it&#039;ll blow up for you. You&#039;ll find the pictures of that machine in one of the links I describe below.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]698258[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Also in today&#039;s world, once a die has completed it&#039;s polishing process, it is inspected and if it needs any final touch up then that touch up is done with those small dremel tools the article you linked to mentioned. If no touch up is needed the die moves on to production. Oh, and they still use various grits of diamond dust paste to polish dies.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now all of this regarding today&#039;s methods for making hubs, dies, and coins, can be found by using this link - </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.coinnews.net/2013/10/04/how-the-philadelphia-mint-polishes-dies-to-make-proof-coins/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coinnews.net/2013/10/04/how-the-philadelphia-mint-polishes-dies-to-make-proof-coins/" rel="nofollow">http://www.coinnews.net/2013/10/04/how-the-philadelphia-mint-polishes-dies-to-make-proof-coins/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>BUT - it&#039;s not all on that one page. That single page only describes how they polish Proof dies in today&#039;s world. But that page does however also contain the links that are need to find out about everything else. What I&#039;m trying to tell you is that you need to read, explore, and utilize all the other links you find on that page to find out about the entire process. And remember, what you find on these pages ONLY deals with the most modern processes. Similar, but different, methods were used in the - how else can I say it - the old days.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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