Definition

• Embossing Dies.  A set of male and female dies intended to emboss very thin material as paper, foil, thin metal. Unlike coin and medal dies, which usually have different obverse and reverse designs, embossing dies must have the same design, one negative (female), and one positive (male). When struck in sheet metal these dies form a shell. Two shells can be affixed to make a shell medal.
  Embossing dies differ from coining dies in that they do not need the great mass
  that coin and medal dies require. They have no shank and are usually discs from 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick (in any diameter required). They can be made by hand engraving, by cutting on a tracer-controlled pantograph, on a die-engraving pantograph, or, most often, by hubbing.
  The two mated dies bear the same three-dimensional image. The negative female die is called the embossing die, it forms the obverse or raised image. The companion die is called a die force or back die. Its sole purpose is to drive the thin material into all the cavities of the embossing die.
  Very thin metal can be struck by embossing dies with very little die tolerance. Thicker metal requires a force slightly smaller. No embossed item can be designed with steep-pitched relief. The metal would shear and break at such a point.
  Embossing dies are easy to store, and it is easy to make a force from a negative
  embossing die, they are often discarded and a new force is made for a subsequent striking.
  References:                                                                                                     
  D1 {1919} Stanley, p 26-28.
  D2 {1930} Jones, p 164-166.

  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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