ttl 



M i N r 



re usoJ, made Iti c..i,:.,ii, each .il-iut I'JOO ounce-. 

 Tin- pot U-iiig heated in furnaces to u bright red 

 het, tlie charge of gold is introduced along \\ith 

 Jin- amount ui copiK-r which calculation, li.-i-r.l mi 

 the weight of the uold ami its oiwipacitiaa as 

 ascertained by assay, proves to be necessary in 

 oi.l.-r to brbtg it to the standard, wliicli in <.>..: 

 Britain is J p.m.-. of pure gold Ui 2 of copjicr 



(see ALLOY). Tin- tal, when melted, i." poured 



into iron mould-, which form it into liars iil inches 

 lon^;, 1? inch broad, ami tlm-e eighth- of an inrli 

 thick, if for sovereign- : ami somewhat narrower, if 

 for hull soveieigiis. l ; "i melting silver (tlie alloy 

 of which i.s adjusli d to tin- standard of _'-'-' parts of 

 silver to IS ui cop|T) larger plumlago crucibles 

 cap.-ible of containing 5.VKJ onnci-, an> used, ami 

 the metal is cast into luus similar to those of uold. 



Tin- cop|-r, or rat her lironze coinage, first issued 

 in I Slid, is lonni d of an alloy consisting of '.l.~> pails 

 of i-op]M-r. 4 of tin, ami 1 of /inc. Tin- coins arc 

 only alxmt half the weight of their ohl copper 

 representatives. The processes of casting nm I coin- 

 ing the bronze are essentially the Maine as in the 

 Case of gold ainl sil\ IT. 



The o|M-ration of nJliiirj follows that of casting. 

 It r. insists in repeatedly passing tlu> bars between 

 I iol|i-is with lianl'-m-il siccl surfaces, driven 

 by steam | >wcr ; the roller* being brought closer 

 and closer as the thickness become- reduced. At 

 a certain stage. as tin- bars become longer, they are 

 cut into r.. in. -nil-ill lengths; and, In leilnci- the 

 hardness imlm-eil by the pressure, they are an- 

 in-alei). The linisliing rollers are so exmiisitely 

 adjti-ied that ti .- - the thinned bars are 



called ) do not vary in thickness in any part more 

 than the ten thousandth pan of an inch. The 

 fillets are still further adjust<.-d in the British mint 

 by means of what is called the ' draw-bench,' in 

 which they are drawn between steel blocks, as in 

 wire-dmwing, and they are then exactly of the 

 necemuirv thickness for the coin intended. 



The fillets thus iircpared are passed to the fryer. 

 who, with a hnml pnm-h, enls a trial blank from 

 each, and weighs it in a balance, judging by ex- 

 perience whether I he vaiiation found to exist from 

 the strict h-_.il weight is such as to justify his 

 passing the lillet into wotk. 



Tin- liliiiikx of which the coins are to lie made 

 are cut out by means of punching machine- of 

 simple construction, in which two or more short 

 hi., -I plungers arc forced by an eccentric through 

 the lillet, and enter holes in the U-d of the machine: 

 the lillet is then advanced automatically and the 

 operation repeat<-d. The wrap left, after the 

 blanks arc cut out, called tciiurt, i- sent back to 

 Oe re melted. 



To ensure their U-ing properly milled on the 

 edge, the blanks are prexwed edgeways in a 

 machine )>ctwcen two grooves, one in a fixed steel 



and tl ther in the face of a revolting 



disc, whereby the edge is laivil and the 

 blanks are brought to a uniform diameter. Alter 

 this they arc annealed |o soften them. In-fore they 

 can ! struck with dii~<; they are also dip|M-d into 

 hot dilute xiiliiliuric acid, to remote o\i<lc of eoppi-r 



f the surface. Snbse<|iient It they are washed 



with uati-r, and diied in hot sawduitt. 



\Vi- now come to the piess riMim, where the 

 blanks receive the impression which makes them 

 perfect coins. Tin- si n-w coining pn-sscs which 

 "cUil in the mini in IMO were superseded 

 _' lit level pie- si. of what is known 

 riilhorn pattern. uj ih,-,,. no |.-s than sixteen 

 now i-visf in the mint. It is not nccecsaiy to give 

 any detailed iu-coiint of I heir mode of action, lint 

 it maybe explained that the lower die [see lui 



lixcd, and. after the blank ha- been 

 automatically laid on it, a t-tcel collar which is 



milled on the inside rises so as to surround this 

 blank, and, while it is thus enclose. I. the upper 

 .-mis iiiioii it, considerable pressure Ix-ing 

 applied through a lever acting on a toggle joint- 

 It will thus he seen that at the moment at which 

 the pressure is applied the blank is completely 

 enclosed, the result licing that all the details 

 which exist on the two dies and on the collar are 

 reproduced in the comparatively soft metal of the 

 blank. The upper die then immediately rises, the 

 collar descends, and the now finished coin is auto- 

 matically pushed on one si.h- lo gite place to an- 

 other blank. In coses when- h-ltei- an- pin mi 

 the edge of a coin, a collar divided into segments 

 working on centre pins is used. On the proper 

 pressure living applied, the segments close round, 

 and impress tlie letters on the edge of the coin. It 

 is po-silili- to strike coins at the rate of m. lo- than 

 1'20 per minute, but il is found that the best results 

 an- obtained when the number does not exceed '.Hi 

 per minute. 



After iH-ing examined with a view to remove any 

 faulty pieces, the finished coins are now passed on 

 to be weighed in the automatic balances, since tin- 

 act regulating the coinage . :;:; Viet. chap. 10) pro- 

 t ides that no ^olil or silver coin shall be issued from 

 the mint which varies by mine than a -peeilied and 

 very small amount from the exact legal standard 

 weight. These very beautiful instruments, \. Inch 

 were introduced in JS44 by William t'olton, gover. 

 nor of the liank of England, but have sin. 

 much modified and improved, are each capable of 

 weighing about twenty-three coins per minute 

 within , ,' ,th of a grain, and distiihuling them into 

 three separate compartments, respectively for those 

 which are too heavy, loo light, or wilhin tlie limits 

 of weight allowed by law. The lirst two classes are 

 returned to be melted, while the third class, having 

 licen rung on iron anvils with a view to eliminate 

 such as are ' dumb, 'arc. so far as their manufacture 

 is concerned, ready to be issued to the public. It 

 is first necessary, however, that sami.le coins l>e 

 taken for assay, as a final guarantee that they an- 

 within the limits as regards standard tin. ness 

 allowed by the coinage act. 



The gold coin is delivered to the importer (gener- 

 ally the Hank of Kngland ) as s,,on as lini>h. 



vfiiflit of coin iK-ing the equivalent of that of the 



bullion imported, without making any ilidiietion 

 for loss in the operations of coinage or for the cost 

 of alloving metal. Silver coin, however, is made 

 up in Imgs of t'lixi nominal value, and stored in the 

 mint until iei|iiircd by the I'.ank of Kngland, Scot- 

 land, or Ireland tor dist i ibnlion in either of those, 

 countries, or by the guv eminent of a liritish colony 

 in which ini|>crial silver coin circulates. In the 

 same way bton/e coin i- made up ill bags of j 

 nominal value and kept in store. 



The following table gives the full legal weight 

 in grains of all Imperial coins of gold, silver, and 

 bronze : 



ui.iU 

 '.h.ls 

 nil 



VV. ., 



InOnlu. 



816-3724 

 v 

 1 



.... 1 11374 

 8ILVEK. 



Crown ............. 4M-M38 



I>"ilMc ll"i ill ...... 349-OMiD 



Unit-crown ........ SIS 1818 



Florin ............ 174 -MM 



87-2727 



i,",:, 1 ;.';:.. 



SILVER. 



4S636S 



Fi.urfH-nci- ( Maundy). 29-0900 



21-8182 



l.iiunt)-).. H- 



Penny(Mumly) 7"2727 



It BONZE. 



14.1-833S 



lUlfpi-nny 87-6000 



Kmrtfilng '7MO 



It will lip noticed that in the ease of lioth gold 

 and silver the values are in proportion to the 

 weights of the coins, but that thin is not the case 

 a- Hoards bronze: whereas a ton of pence is 

 nominally worth tils, the same weight of half- 

 I- m .- or farthings is only valued at 373| 6s. sd. 



