VOCABULARY TERM: STRUCK

Struck. A numismatic or medallic item made by striking with dies in a press for that purpose. The struck piece can have one or two sides; when one-sided it is called uniface. Even uniface pieces are struck with two dies however (just one is blank, called a jack die). Struck pieces are in contrast to other forms of manufacture: cast, repoussé, niello, forged. While ancient coins were diestruck, with hammer and anvil, coins of the middle ages were considered hammered. With the invention of the screw press in 1506, and it's commercial development in 1550, coins and medals were considered truly struck. All coined pieces – those manufactured in a coining press – are struck.

There is a limit to the size a struck piece can be, depending upon the size and strength of the press. This limit has gradually increased as press technology has developed. The first struck coins and medals were under one inch. By the end of the 16th century a 2-inch medal was struck by Vittore Gambello (the largest for its day). With modern presses a coin or medal, for all practical purposes, could be as large as six inches; a piece this size requires a press of 1000-ton or more capacity. Larger medals were – and are – cast.

To read the complete entry on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
Struck (https://nnp.washu.edu/Documents/Detail/struck/4136810)

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