Definition

• Emboss, Embossing.  Any form of relief created by pressure from behind, as hammering with hand tools or striking with dies. reprossé is a form of hand embossed design, creating all relief by hammering thin metal from behind. Embossing dies    accomplish this in production run manufacturing to form a SHELL. Embossed medals and shell medals are produced by making each side separately and joining the two, with or without a drop-in – lead or potmetal to fill the hollow inside area. Embossed models have been created for conventional medals. American artist-sculptor Americo Giannicchi uses this technique to achieve finer detail; his finest such medal was the New York State Bicentennial Medal of 1976 co-sponsored by the American Numismatic Society.

  excerpted with permission from

  An Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology

  For Artists, Makers, Collectors and Curators

  COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY D. WAYNE JOHNSON

  Roger W. Burdette, Editor

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