VOCABULARY TERM: SPLASHER

Splasher. A method of easily testing a die by impressing it in soft lead. Splashers are usually made by pouring molten lead on a piece of paper and impressing the die into the lead before it cools. Splasher impressions were used by hand engravers to examine the progress of cutting a die, or to prove the die before it is completed. This was always done while the die was in a soft state and further alterations could be easily made at the bench. (The need for a press to prove the die was only done after the die was hardened.)

The splasher was not usually saved because of the incomplete status of the die; but existing splashers usually exhibit the paper backing and very irregular edges. Similar pieces were made by engravers in Great Britain, but moreso in tin than it lead, where they are called hot tin impressions. (Tin was more readily available in Britain at the time.) While lead and tin were the most used metal for splashers they could be made in any fusible alloy.

To read the complete entry on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
Splasher (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/dictionarydetail/516790)

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