VOCABULARY TERMS: HOT, HOT, HOT!

Hot Shortness. Cracks around edges of cast blanks (or cast objects) caused by different melting points of impurities. Ancient coins often display evidence of such hot shortness – they were often made of impure metal and the blanks were heated before striking. Low melting point metals, such as lead, were squeezed out during striking leaving the fissures around the edge.

Hot Tear. A separating of metal occurring during any process when the metal is in molten condition as in casting. Foundry workers often call this a "pull." Ragged edges on the end of strips are often the location of hot tears. These very infrequently show up on mint error coins when a planchet is blanked near the end of a strip containing a hot tear and this improper blank is inadvertently struck.

Hot Tin Impression. A method of easily testing a die by impressing it in hot tin; a British term for what Americans would call a splasher. Such was the practice at the Soho Mint and hot tin impressions of their early productions still exist (example: Christ's College Porteus Medal of 1808 by J. Phillip, Brown 632-33). While splashers can be made in any soft metal, hot tin impressions were more popular in England because of the ease of obtaining tin (from the tin mines in Western England). American diesinkers of the 19th century were evenly divided in their choice between tin or lead to prove a die during some stage of manufacturer. Tin is softer than lead but somewhat more expensive. Both metals could be used over and over again. See tin.

To read the complete entries on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
Hot Shortness (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/dictionarydetail/516066)
Hot Tear (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/dictionarydetail/516067)
Hot Tin Impression (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/dictionarydetail/516068)

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