Franklin Peale Peale designed a new machine to cut planchets, or blanks, from metal strips. This machine remained in use, almost unmodified, until 1902. Another of the steam-powered machines Peale had installed on his return was a milling machine, which was used to "upset" the coin—to form a rim around it. A Contamin portrait lathe was imported from France and installed at the Philadelphia Mint in 1837. Prior to this time, all coin dies for American coins had to be made individually, by hand at Philadelphia. Once the lathe was installed, they could be reproduced mechanically by the pantograph-like device. The first
Metal Couture Because of the size of the pieces, they are generally not made of precious metal as jewellery would be, as this would make them prohibitively expensive. Various types of Metal are used for making metal couture, including steel, stainless steel, copper, aluminium, but may include other materials. Metal couture was first featured in fashion shows in the early 2000s, in both mainstream, high-end couture and Alternative fashion/subcultural fashion shows. Some Metal Couture has featured in product promotional photography, stage shows, art installations and the catwa lk. Other items have featured in film stage and in the video clips of performers,