Goldsmith's workshop and mint

Goldsmiths and moneyers rely on more or less the same procedures and tools which is why goldsmiths often also work as die cutters and moneyers, and vice versa, a case at hand being Urs Graf (around 1485–1528) who lived in Basel and Solothurn.

A key piece of equipment is the forge, which was used for melting the metal and repeatedly reheating the semi-finished products. Another vital instrument is the anvil, which they use for forging and forming. Most of their work, however, is done at the workbench; here the time-intensive precision work begins with the aid of special tools such as burins, files, hammers and punches.

Up to the 18th century, the only way to work sheet metal was by means of hammering. This only changed with the introduction of the wheeling machine.