What follows is just some thoughts and theories only, based on my own pewter work, and understanding of production and manufacturing techniques. It is by no means researched and even my own experience does not compare to technology that would have been available.
I have of late been making largish batches of tokens, particularly for Rowany Newcomers, and this has given me pause to think of production techniques that might have been employed to allow production of a large number of tokens rather quickly.
Given the numbers of finds of tokens and souvenirs through Europe, I personally believe that there would not have been someone who specifically just made these tokens. If there was, they would have most likely only done it as a part time thing, specifically for a coming event. They might be a jeweller, though the skills required such as a steady hand, artistic flare and patience mean that it really could have been anyone, much like it is in the SCA.
The quality of the carved moulds varies greatly which seems to indicate to me that some might have been jewellers who are skilled in carving, whilst other moulds are rather rudimentry and might have been made by some other person with suitable carving skill.
There are indications that numerous moulds of the same pieces were made, though there isn’t much evidence as to whether this was to replace moulds that broke, or wore out, or was to speed up production. My guess is they were made to speed up production, as most souvenirs would have had a limited window of opportunity such as an event or such.
In my practical experience I’m guessing that production was either done in stages, with quality control between stages. With child labour not being an issue, I’m guessing that the work would have been broken up between various workers, one pouring the molten metal, one collecting those castings and checking whether they were acceptable, then possibly clipping off the excess, and possibly even one worker finishing off by cleaning up the piece to a sale-able item. The use of a second and even third worker here makes the process one that can continue at a reasonable rate.
In pouring the casting I believe that there would have been no waiting for the button to cool, the caster would have poured in molten metal, waited a second or two, then poured back out the molten button before it completely set. Through experience when casting tokens and small flat items the first second or two is enough to have the actual item needed set within the mould, and the button is just excess metal that would be better suited back in the pot to continue the casting process. It’s also quicker to pour this back into the pot whilst it’s still molten rather that let the button cool, cut it off then have to re-melt it. This would be a key to producing large numbers of castings, and having a second person to do quality control means that the person pouring the castings can just keep churning them out, whilst the other person is sorting and throwing bad castings straight back into the pot whilst they are still hot.
Here ends my theories and suppositions… If you have opinions please feel free to comment.
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