VOCABULARY TERM: FACE MILLED

Face Milled. A smoothed or flattened surface, milled or planed or ground off; said of a medallic or numismatic item in which one or both sides have been smoothed off to be engraved with a new design and/or lettering. Usually it is the reverse which is face milled with the obverse of the coin or medal left intact. All love tokens are so smoothed before they are engraved. It is easiest to remove all relief, including the border, until an absolutely flat surface is obtained across the full flan – it is also possible to face mill both sides, in a sense to make a blank from a struck piece. In rare instances only the relief is ground off one side leaving the raised border intact. Face milling is also done for some hand punched items, very infrequently for counterstamping.

Faceted. With many faces, said of a surface with numerous planes to be reflective and in imitation of a multifaceted jewel. Decorations are sometimes designed with faceted arms or rays, these are lower classes in imitation of higher classes which are indeed inlaid with jewels. Such faceting is sometimes called cut silver.

CLASS 02.33025-(005)08.1

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