From Beautiful Carvings in 19th-Century Steel to Wearable Art in Silver and Stone

How antique dies carved by master artisans in the 19th century create modern talismans today.

Part One: The Dies — A Lineage in Steel

Many of the dies I use contain artwork originally carved over a century and a half ago by master artisans in the famous jewelry production cities of the time: Paris, France; Cologne, Germany; and Providence, Rhode Island. Just holding a particularly old or interesting die and imagining the thoughts, environment, and events behind it can give me chills. Next time you see us at a market or fair, pick up a die you like and you’ll see what I mean.

My mother holding a Potter "Krampus" die at the Potter USA shop tour, January 2026.

Between 1850 and the turn of the 20th century, the jewelry industry underwent a profound transformation, born from a marriage of artistry and emerging industrial precision. This was the era when hand-engraving met mechanization, when a single artisan’s skill could be multiplied by applying pressure and ingenuity to steel.

On the left, a strip of Frank Morrow decorative brass strip pressed mechanically for home or commercial building furnishing details. On the right are rolling dies originally from the Cranston Fancy Wire Co., now owned by Potter USA, that fit in a special machine and produced yards and yards of decorative copper, brass and silver "wire" in various widths.

French artists like Henri Vever, René Lalique, and Georges Fouquet, alongside Americans like Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and the Unger and Riker Brothers, carved many of their most famous and highly regarded works into dies right alongside their lesser-known work, intending them to be replicated. These weren’t disposable designs. They were meant to endure.

On top, a very famous Henri Vever 1905 diamond, pearl, and enamel pendant listed for auction at Christie’s, 2017. This design can also be found in museum collections, including Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Below is Kevin Potter’s silver pressing from the Vever die carrying this same impression. This die is in my collection.

These dies allowed jewelry to move beyond the elite. They made hand-carved beauty accessible, durable, and reproducible without losing the soul of the original design. That’s the lineage Phoenix Silver carries forward.

How the Dies Were Made

Hand Engraving: The Master Hub Technique

It started with a single block of high-carbon steel and a skilled hand. An artisan would carve a positive relief, called a hub or hob, directly into the steel. Every line, every curve, every detail was deliberate.

Once carved, the hub was hardened and tempered to withstand immense pressure. Then it was pressed into a softer steel block to create the negative master die. That master die became the mother mold, used to strike multiple working dies for production. The original hub, the one touched by human hands, was preserved. Protected. Honored.

Here's Vincent Potter, of Potter USA, describing the process of creating an engraved hub.

potter video (Instagram Post (3:4)) by Jenna Tomalka

Vincent Potter explaining the creation of a carved hub and a die from that hub on the Potter USA Gem Show Tour, January 31, 2026.

 

The Die-Engraving Pantograph (Reducing Machine)

By the mid-19th century, the pantograph changed everything. Artists could now sculpt a large model in clay, wax, or plaster, three to five times the final size. A stylus traced that model while a connected cutting tool carved the design in reduced scale into a steel die block.

L: Gorgeous Francis Engraving Co., pantograph engraving machine, japanned cast iron frame and base with painted decoration, 1890, from www.worthpoint.com.  R: Line Drawing of Deckle Pantograph Reducing and Engraving Machine, where you can see operator using stylus to trace a line, which is transferred through the arms and spindle of the machine, to the cutting tool. From lathes.co.uk

This is the pantograph used at Potter USA. In these photos Vincent is transferring his design for an engraving from the stylus to the cutting tool, which is cutting it at a reduced size into a puck of steel. From "Potter People-Jewelry Group" Facebook Group.

Pantograph-cut dies often showed faint concentric circles on the surface. These were hand-finished by engravers, by chasing or burnishing, to refine the detail and bring the design to life. The machine did the heavy lifting. The artisan gave it soul.  (Source: The Santa Fe Symposium)

Drop Hammers

From the 1850s onward, drop hammers allowed manufacturers to strike complex, three-dimensional components. These machines used significant weight to force metal sheets into prepared steel dies, creating depth and dimension that hand tools alone couldn't achieve. (Source: Tacoma Custom Jewelers)

Vincent Potter in one of the many rooms filled to the high ceiling with these beautiful antique tools. Two ancient drop hammers stand in the middle of the room. Check out the huge anvils and the dies lining the walls. 

The Galvano: Copper, Current, and Chemistry

One of the most fascinating techniques was the galvano, or electrotype. Developed in the 1830s and widely adopted by mid-century, this process used electroforming to create an incredibly detailed copper replica of an original pattern.

Here I am showing off the beautiful copper galvanos  that Kevin Potter has saved from destruction. He has found them about to be scrapped with other tooling and dies at various closed jewelry factories around the world.

Here's how it worked:

1. Pattern Creation: A detailed model was sculpted in plaster or wax.
2. Conductive Coating: The pattern was coated with graphite or metal powder to make it conductive.
3. Electrodeposition: The coated pattern was submerged in an electrolyte bath. An electric current caused copper ions to deposit onto the surface, building a thin shell over several days.
4. Building the Shell: The result was a delicate, high-fidelity copper galvano, an exact negative replica of the original model.
5. Backing for Strength: Because the copper shell was too fragile to use as a die on its own, it was backed with lead, tin, or iron to create a durable working tool.

Galvanos were especially prized for ornamental metalwork, medals, and large jewelry components. They allowed perfect reproduction of intricate artistic work without losing a single detail.  (Source: Newman Numismatic Portal)

By the end of the 19th century, these methods combined to meet the demands of a rising middle class. Jewelry could now be elegant, durable, affordable, and deeply detailed. The dies I use today are survivors of that era. They carry the marks of the hands that made them and the machines that pressed them into service.

Part Two: How I Make Jewelry from the Dies

Every piece begins with intention.  Sometimes I press metal just to see what happens, like my testing with lead-free pewter. But for a piece of jewelry, I choose the die, the stone, the story with intention. I think about who might wear it and what they might want to receive from the Universe, or what they might want their talisman to say.

The Process

1. Sourcing & Preparation

I start with reclaimed silver, (or an alternate metal) rolled to 14-20-gauge sheet, depending on the die design and the type of piece I am making. Let's say I'm making a pendant that I want to be fairly lightweight, and attached to a backplate, so 20 gauge. I cut the focal piece to a shape a little larger than the impression, and the backplate to a workable size using a shear. Both pieces are fluxed and annealed with a torch to soften the metal and prepare it for the two kinds of presses: the 20-ton hydraulic press for the impression, and the rolling mill to texture the backplate.

This design, made to mount a large cabochon stone in the center, has a gothic wrought-iron repeating heart and leaves pattern surrounding the stone. It was carved in 19th century Paris by Janvier. Victor Janvier was the inventor of the engraving/reducing pantograph.

2. Pressing the Focal

This is where the magic happens. I place the annealed silver into the die and press it using a 20-ton manual hydraulic press with polyurethane pushers. (Or aluminum, copper, paper, or even lead depending on what the design calls for.)  It takes multiple pressings to capture all the detail. I anneal the metal every three to four pressings to keep it workable and so it won't tear. After the first two pressings, I trim the edges, keeping a small tab I can use to pull the pressing out of the die.

3. Texturing the Backplate

While the focal is taking shape, I run the backplate through a rolling mill with a pattern plate. This gives the back of the piece texture and visual interest, even when it's not the star of the show. I kept the backplate smooth in the case of this rose quartz set with the gothic skirt.

4. Soldering

I square up the edge of the focal so it sits perfectly on the backplate, and solder the focal to the backplate using hard silver solder. At the same time I'll solder a tiny tag with my stamped maker's mark on the back of the piece. Then I make the bezel and bail by hand (or use an impression die) and solder them into place with soft solder so not to melt the first solder joint.

5. Shaping & Finishing

I trim, shape, sand, and polish the piece. This is where the design becomes wearable. Every edge is considered. Every curve is intentional. How should it feel? How will it lay? Should it move free or be more stationary? Should it shine or have a matte finish? Each piece presents a myriad of options.

6. Patina

I apply patina to bring out the depth and detail of the pressed design. The oxidation settles into the recesses, and I can remove the oxidation that I don't want. What's left should highlight the details and flatter the stone.

7. Stone Setting

If the piece calls for a stone, I set it now. Moonstone for clarity. Garnet for power. Rose quartz for compassion. Obsidian for protection. Each stone is chosen to enhance the energy of the design.

8. Final Polish

The last step is a final polish to bring out details and shine, flaws and character. 

Materials

• Reclaimed silver rolled to 20-gauge sheet
• Semi-precious gemstones
• Silver solder (easy and hard)
• Flux
• Patina

Tools

• Shear
• Rolling mill
• Manual hydraulic press with polyurethane pushers
• Hammers, pliers, files
• Jeweler's saw
• Antique dies and pattern plates
• Vice and setting tools
• Polishing tools
  

Why Handmade Matters

Phoenix Silver pieces aren't about me, they're about you. But there is a connection:  if my design speaks to you, if you recognize my intention, if those stones and symbols hit just right, you and I have a kind of meeting of the hearts and minds. It's an exhilarating, affirming moment that does not happen every day. And I love it when it happens.

Handmade is both a process and a promise. Every Phoenix Silver piece is pressed, shaped, and finished by hand. No mass standardization. No automation. Just pressure, heat, intention, and time.

When you wear a Phoenix Silver talisman, you're wearing a lineage. The hands that carved the original hub in the 1800s. The artisans who refined the pantograph cuts. The women who wore these symbols before you. And my hands, here in the studio, pressing metal and setting stones and telling the truth of my craft.