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Message:: [QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 3222484, member: 112"]Well kinda I guess, that was when they started, at least in the US, hubbing the dies. A hub is the reverse of a die, same exact design but in relief. In other words the design on a hub is all raised, while on a die it all incuse. So hubs were made and pressed into the dies. But of course the hubs were still carved by hand. Prior to that, and depending on the time frame of course, in essence the dies were all made by hand one at a time. In the beginning it was all hand carving/engraving, but as time progressed the "die sinkers", as they came to be known, began using punches to make the process easier. They'd carve a punch of say the bust in relief, then place that on a die blank and hit it with a hammer - thus punching the design into the die. Did the same thing with individual letters and numerals and other design features. Then they started using gang punches, sometimes with portions or even entire words on a single punch. It was this process that eventually led to using hubs to make dies.[/QUOTE]