Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 2400181, member: 44316&quot;]January 26 this year I posted this to the CoinForgeryDiscussionList:</p><p><a href="https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CoinForgeryDiscussionList/conversations/messages" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CoinForgeryDiscussionList/conversations/messages" rel="nofollow">https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CoinForgeryDiscussionList/conversations/messages</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Here is how I think of tooling and smoothing. </p><p><br /></p><p>Imagine a line drawing, without shading, of the coin type. That drawing will have some areas of white with no lines where there is no design detail. However, the coin may have corrosion in those areas. If that corrosion is evened out that is &quot;smoothing.&quot;&nbsp; No detail was added to the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>The line drawing will have some lines representing details that will wear off or become weaker with circulation. For example, a well worn sestertius may no longer have the outlines of the leaves on the laurel wreath that you would see in the line drawing of an unworn example. If someone takes a tool and carves leaves where they were, but no longer are, that is tooling. </p><p><br /></p><p>Some lines in the drawing represent features that are so bold they do not disappear completely even with quite a bit or wear or corrosion. For example, the profile of the bust, the outline of the reverse figure, and the outlines of the lettering. If a coin is very worn, these features can be weak. They can be &quot;strengthened&quot; by carving the field around the profile a bit deeper, outlining the reverse type a bit, and digging around the letters to make them stand out. This is in the &quot;tooling&quot; category.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sometimes corrosion has encrusted or raised bumps on much of the coin. The bumps can be carved off the edges of the lettering and carved off the designs. The line-drawing lines that are afterwards no longer prominent on the coin can be reengraved. The fields can be made level and smoothed. There are some collecting areas where this is so common it is hard to find a coin without all of these (coins of the Kingdom of the Bosporus come to mind).</p><p><br /></p><p>In conclusion, here is the meaning of the terminology:</p><p><br /></p><p>If a line drawing of the original had no line there and the coin surface has been carved or buffed to be flatter there, that is smoothing. If the line drawing had a line there and a cutting tool has been used to recreate or emphasize the line, that is tooling.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in