History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c14.s3.9

v1.c14.s3.9

Negative impressions of the obverse and reverse types (and inscriptions) could have been engraved, perhaps following an original design, on two separate dies of soft steel or bronze, prepared by cutting into slices a bar of steel or bronze, cast in mould and then annealed (i.e. softened by heating the bar to a temperature somewhat below the melting point and then allowing it to cool slowly)¹¹. The engraving might have been done by a sculptor with the help of such instruments as a graver’s wheel, drills of different shapes and sizes, a burin, a hammer and perhaps a compass.