1872.) Gold Coinage. 225 
readily realise their value by selling them at the Bank, 
which is compelled by the Bank Charter Act of 1844 to pur- 
chase them at £3 17s. gd. per oz. If they took the gold to 
the Mint they would get three-halfpence per ounce more for 
it, but then there would be the delay of melting and coining, 
and the disadvantage of receiving the money in sovereigns 
instead of bank-notes: the latter might be carried away 
in a purse, and the former might have to be carried away in 
a sack. The Bank of England accepts gold in ingots, 
weighing as a rule 200 ozs., from Rothschilds, Raphael and 
Sons, Browne and Wingrove, and other large houses, and 
they bear the “brands” of the said houses. The Bank of 
England makes a profit of about £2000 on each million by 
this three-halfpence per ounce. 
As regards light gold coins, the law is that any person 
who is tendered such, “shall, by himself or others, cut, 
break, or otherwise deface, any such coin tendered to him in 
payment.” Light gold is received by the Mint at the same 
rate as ingots. As only the Bank of England and a few 
other bodies comply with the requirements of the A, it is 
to be feared there is much light gold in circulation, whereby 
the public will be the losers. Formerly coins were 
““ sweated” by attrition or by being shaken together in large 
quantities in a bag; but comparatively recently the aid of 
electricity has been invoked, and precious metal is removed 
from coins by ele¢tro-dissolution. An interesting case of this 
kind was tried at the Central Criminal Court, January 31st, 
1870. 
The operations of the Mint may be divided into two 
classes—the metallurgical and the mechanical. 
After the ingots reach the Mint from the Bank of England, 
the mechanical methods of turning them into sovereigns are 
very simple, although the machinery employed is necessarily 
made to do its work with the greatest precision and accu- 
racy. The gold is first melted in a crucible about as big as 
a man’s hat, then it is poured into moulds, whereby it is 
made into bars 24 inches long and half an inch deep. These 
bars are then rolled cold, by different sets of rollers, till they 
each form a band. These bands are then forcibly dragged 
between two motionless surfaces of steel to bring the band 
to a standard thickness, from which “ blanks ”’ for sovereigns 
can be punched. After the little blank discs are punched, 
they are passed through a machine which raises but does 
not mill their edges. Inthe next machine the sovereign is 
finished by stamping, and the one blow both impresses the 
effigies and dates and mills the edges. Next they are 
WGI. FL. (N.S.) 2G 
