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I very much doubt whether any coin die was made of cast iron. Ancient and medieval coin dies have been made both of iron/steel and bronze. Unfortunately their rarity means and/or numsimatic importance means that they are rarely accessible for detailed technical study. It is generally believed that the designs on dies were engraved; this is certainly the case with medieval wrought iron/steel dies. I have examined long cross coins of Cnut (early 11th century) where the engraver's setting our marks as well as the actual design have transferred to the coin. Occasionally the metallurgy of dies could be quite sophisticated; a counterfeiter's coin die from Mughal India I have analysed proved to be a martensitic high tin bronze. Even so it's hardness was nowhere near that of modern alloy steel coin dies with Vickers hardnesses around 900 - an overaged die steel was the first time I ever encountered a Vickers hardness over 1000. Yours, Peter Northover Edgar wrote: > Early coins of gold and silver were minted > from cast blanks using hammer struck dies. > > These dies - I read - were made from iron. > http://www.neo-tech.com/businessmen/part4.html > > How did the ancients manage to produce iron dies > since they did not have the technology to produce > cast iron? > > Did they cast a reverse die in bronze which could > then be stamped onto the head of a red hot piece > of iron? > > > Edgar > -- Dr Peter Northover, Materials Science-Based Archaeology Group, Department of Materials, University of Oxford Tel +44 (0)1865 283721; Fax +44 (0)1865 841943 Mobile +44 (0)7785 501745 e-mail [log in to unmask]