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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 2784870, member: 75937&quot;]In the <a href="https://community.vcoins.com/celator-vol-06-no-10/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://community.vcoins.com/celator-vol-06-no-10/" rel="nofollow">October 1992 issue of The Celator</a> (p. 4), Marvin Tameanko proposed that the indentations on Roman provincial coins (&quot;centration dimples&quot;) were the result of mint workers using pincer tongs to remove the flans from the furnace where they were softened prior to striking:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]645180[/ATTACH]</p><p>Wayne Sayles, in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Coin-Collecting-IV-Provincial/dp/0873415523" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Coin-Collecting-IV-Provincial/dp/0873415523" rel="nofollow">Ancient Coin Collecting IV: Roman Provincial Coins</a></i> (pp. 130-131), considers Tameanko&#039;s theory to be &quot;the most plausible.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Well, <a href="http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/176820?position=8" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/176820?position=8" rel="nofollow">this coin in the Harvard Art Museum&#039;s collection</a> should put that theory to rest once and for all.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]645181[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>There is clear evidence of rotation of the flan around a spindle, with a clear circular scratch around the dimple and also the mark of a point inside the dimple itself. See these close-ups:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]645186[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]645187[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This unequivocally disproves Tameanko&#039;s &quot;misaligned pincer tongs&quot; theory. Also see the coins [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] shows at <a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/pit.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/pit.html" rel="nofollow">his page</a> along with his thoughts about the dimples. I believe Doug also has examples of coins that were struck extremely off-center, such that large amounts of unstruck flan outside the coin&#039;s devices show concentric circular scratches consistent with something rotatating relative to the surface of the flan prior to striking.</p><p><br /></p><p>This could either result from a stationary flan being smoothed by a bow-drill type of apparatus turning a blade or abrasive disk, such as David Sellwood advocates in the minting chapter of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Roman-Crafts-Donald-Strong/dp/0814778011" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.amazon.com/Roman-Crafts-Donald-Strong/dp/0814778011" rel="nofollow">Roman Crafts (Donald Strong and David Brown, eds)</a>, or it could result from a flan being turned on a rotating platen while being smoothed by a stationary blade, as described <a href="http://www.classicalcoins.com/flans1.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.classicalcoins.com/flans1.html" rel="nofollow">here in this excellent article</a> at the Classical Coins web page.</p><p><br /></p><p>I would love to see examples of coins in your collections that clearly demonstrate evidence of this method of flan preparation.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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