697 



MINT. 



Kent, which is the second in point of antiquity in the Anglo-Saxon series, 

 and must be dated about the middle of the seventh century. It was 

 usually stamped upon the reverse of the coin, but in some few instances 

 it is found upon the obverse, whilst the name of the monarch is removed 

 to the other side. The names of two moneyers sometimes occur upon 

 the same coin. From the time of Aethelstan, with some few exceptions 

 only, the name of the town was added, probably in conformity to his 

 law that the money should be coined within some town. (Wilkins, 

 ' Leg. Anglo-Sax.') The name of the moneyer is not found lower than 

 the reign of Edward I., but that of the mint was not entirely disused 

 in the last year of Queen Elizabeth. 



We now come to the third subject the actual manufacturing pro- 

 cesses. The mode of coinage in early times, at least in this country, as 

 far as it can now be traced, was rude and inartificial; the sole expedient 

 employed being to fix one die firmly in a wooden block, and to hold 

 the other in the hand as a puncheon ; when, by striking the latter 

 forcibly, and repeatedly, with a hammer, the impression required was 

 at length worked up. This method appears to have been nearly 

 coeval with the first invention of coined money ; and it is a singular 

 fact that no improvement of any importance was made in it, until the 

 power of the screw was applied to coinage in the French mint about 

 the middle of the 16th century. (Le Blanc, ' Traite Hist, de 

 Monuoyes de France.') 



The present mode of proceeding at the Mint may be briefly described 

 as follows : 



When ingots of gold arrive at the Mint, they are carefully weighed, 

 the weight registered, and a receipt given. Assay pieces are cut from 

 them ; and they are assayed, to ascertain exactly how much the gold is 

 above or below standard, if at all. They then pass to the melting- 

 house, where the melter weighs them, and gives a receipt for them. 

 Each ingot is about 8 inches long, 3 inches wide, and 1 inch thick ; if 

 the gold be standard, the value is about 8001. ; and to bring it to 

 standard, an amount of alloy is added depending on the result of tho 

 assay. Six ingots, with the necessary alloy, are put into one crucible ; 

 and several such crucibles are placed in seven charcoal-heated furnaces. 

 Numerous cast-iron moulds are arranged in a frame ; the molten gold 

 is poured into these ; and when cold, each mould is opened, and a bar of 

 gold taken out, 21 inches long, 1| inches broad, and 1 inch thick, if for 

 sovereigns ; but somewhat longer and narrower if for half-sovereigns. 

 If for silver coinage, the ingots are 13 inches long, 5 inches wide, and 

 4 inches thick, valued at about 2502. ; the weighing, assaying, melting, 

 and casting into bars, are nearly the same as for gold, but requiring 

 larger apparatus, on account of the greater weight of metal operated 

 upon. The bars into which the silver is cast are 21 inches long, from 

 } to 2J inches wide, and from f to 1 inch thick, according to the kind 

 of coins to be made. The bars are then transferred to the rolling-mill. 

 The machinery next brought into use is of a very powerful character, 

 worked by steam-engines recently set up by Messrs. Hall. There are 

 six pairs of rolling-cylinders, varying from 14 to 10 inches in diameter, 

 all with hardened steel surfaces, and highly polished. Every bar is 

 pugged many times through the rollers, which are brought closer and 

 ploser to accommodate the reduced thickness. The bars, thus length- 

 ened to 7 or 8 feet, are cut into five pieces each ; then annealed in a 

 furnace ; then rolled again ; and so on until brought to the respective 

 thicknesses for the different kinds of coin ; or rather, slightly in excess 

 of that thickness. All these operations are nearly the same in character 

 for silver and for copper coma as for gold. 



The fillets of gold are then transferred to the flatting-mill, where 

 they are passed between rollers exquisitely adjusted, so as to make the 

 fillet uniform in thickness in every part, and exactly thick enough for 

 a sovereign or half-sovereign. Trial-blanks cut from each fillet must not 

 vary in weight more than Jth of a gram, or the whole fillet is rejected. 

 The cutting-out of a small number of trial-blanks is effected by a 

 hand-punch ; but the cutting-out of the blanks which are to form the 

 coins themselves is the work of twelve powerful presses ranged in a 

 circle. The fillets are fed into each press by boys ; and stamps, worked 

 by pneumatic power, speedily cut them up into blanks. Each machine 

 cute out as fast as a boy can feed it (about 60 per minute) ; and in 

 busy times the whole twelve presses cut about 200,000 sovereign-blanks 

 per day. The scrap or icitsel is sent back to the melting-house. After 

 another careful weighing and registering, the blanks are tied up in 

 bags and sent to the weighing-room. Men used to be employed, under 

 the name of nizen, to weigh each blank separately ; but in 1855 twelve 

 exquisite automatic weighing-machines were introduced, the invention 

 of Captain (afterwards Colonel) Harness, the deputy master. Machines 

 of somewhat similar character had been before invented by Mr. Cotton, 

 to be used for sovereigns at the Bank ; but those now adverted to are 

 for blanks. The blanks are fed into each machine through a spout ; a 

 pushes each blank upon a delicate balance, where it remains 

 exactly three seconds to poise itself ; if correct in weight to j^th of a 

 grain, another slider comes forward and pushes it over the edge into a 

 " medium " or correct box ; while the few, very few, which overpass 

 this limit in either direction, are pushed into a "heavy" or "light" 

 box, as the case may be. Under the sedulous care of Colonel Harness 

 and Professor <Jr;iham, tin* rolling, drawing, and cutting-out are now 

 go accurately performed that 98 or 99 blanks fall into the " medium" 

 box out of every 100. All blanks for gold coins, and all for silver 

 corns except those of very small denominations, are now tested by 



MINT. 608 



these beautiful machines ; these small corns are tested at so many to the 

 ounce, and copper coins at so many to the pound or, at least, the 

 blanks for them. The weighed blanks are then passed to the marking- 

 machines, which are eight in number ; these, by a very peculiar "move- 

 ment, so roll the blanks as to make the peripheries perfectly circular, 

 and to raise a slight projecting edge on each surface not to produce a 

 milled edge, but to facilitate the stamping. After this, the blanks are 

 annealed by being exposed to a cherry-red heat for a few minutes ; 

 they are next cooled in water, pickled or blanched in dilute sulphuric 

 acid, dried with heated beech-wood sawdust, and made up into journeys, 

 or bags of definite weight, which in the case of sovereign-blanks amount 

 to 151bs. troy, or 701 pieces. 



The blanks are next coined or stamped. The coining-presses, eight 

 in number, are very strong and massive, having to bear a great strain 

 during the operations. Rouleaux or piles of blanks are supplied to a 

 tube, from which they one by one fall upon the lower die, supported 

 by an anvil ; the upper die is brought down upon the blank by a 

 peculiar combination of screw-power and pneumatic power, and a 

 sovereign stamped on both sides falls out, milled, too, at the edge. An 

 analogous process, varied only in details, is employed for other coins. 

 If all the eight presses are fully in action, they will stamp 200,000 

 coins per day. After being once again weighed, the sovereigns are put 

 up in bags of 701, and these in larger parcels of 5608. On the day 

 after being stamped, the sovereigns are conveyed to a central office, 

 where they are pixed, or officially tested. If medals instead of coins 

 are being struck, the operations are lengthened by this circumstance 

 that, on account of the high relief of the device, every blank requires 

 many blows and many annealings before it can receive the full effect 

 of the impression. 



The amount of coinage in each year varies, according to the fluc- 

 tuations of internal and foreign trade. In some years it barely reaches 

 1,500,0002., while in others it has exceeded 12,000,0002. During the 

 last twenty years it has averaged something over 5,000,000?. annually. 



From the money, when completely finished, two pieces are to be 

 taken from every 15 Ibs. weight of gold, and two, at least, from every 

 60 Ibs. weight of silver, one for the private assay within the Mint, and 

 the other for the trial of the Pix. 



Preparations are now being made for changing the character of the 

 English copper money. The coins are not only very heavy, but they 

 are absurdly unequal. One-fifth of the whole quantity is on an average 

 60 years old ; and the pence then coined are at the rate of 16 to the 

 pound, whereas those of later date are mostly 24 to the pound. The 

 copper coinage atpresentin circulation is supposed to be about 3500 tons, 

 worth 380,0002. as mere copper, but 800,0002. as coins. It is now 

 intended to replace the whole of these with bronze coins, consisting of 

 95 parts copper, 4 of tin, and 1 of zinc. They will be so much lighter 

 than the corns now existing that the government expect a profit beyond 

 all the minting expenses, while the public will probably be well satisfied 

 with the change. A bronze peony or halfpenny will be a token, issued 

 for more than its intrinsic value ; but where the government keeps 

 good faith, no harm will result. The decided satisfaction expressed in 

 France at the new bronze coinage has influenced the English govern- 

 ment in this matter. If, as is stated, there are to be 48 bronze pennies 

 to the pound, the weight of each will be only one-third of that of the 

 massive old " ring" pence of George III.'s reign, and one-half of that 

 of the smaller pennies ; and the corns will be usef ul for weighing, at 

 3 to the ounce. At the present time (July, 1860), Mr. Leonard Wyon 

 is preparing the dies, and Messrs. Boulton and Watt the machinery, for 

 this new bronze coinage. A partial adoption of the decimal system 

 concurrently with this change has been strongly urged, but no such 

 plan seems to be intended. 



A few words will suffice relating to colonial and foreign mints. The 

 Royal Mint, on Tower Hill, makes the coins for most of the colonies ; 

 but the colonists have a voice in determining the denominations and 

 values of the corns. The Canadian legislature adopted the decimal 

 system of coinage in 1856, and had entirely new moneys minted to 

 carry out the change. There are twenty-cent, ten-cent, and five-cent 

 pieces in silver, and one-cent pieces in bronze. The sizes and weights 

 have been very ingeniously adjusted, so as to make the coins useful as 

 weights and measures, as well as moneys : thus, the cent pieces are 

 exactly one inch in diameter, and weigh exactly 100 to the pound 

 avoirdupois; they pass current for exactly 100 to a United States 

 dollar, and 24 to an English shilling. The Calcutta Mint, for the 

 service of a vast population in India, has for many years been one of 

 great magnitude; but in 1859 it underwent such augmentations as 

 rendered it the most important in the world ; it has at least double 

 the coining power of the London Mint. There are also large mints at 

 Bombay and Madras. Australia, after the discovery of gold in that 

 country, wished to have a mint for coining. Each colony applied 

 in 1851. The government expressed willingness, under proper con- 

 ditions for security, the colonies to pay the whole expense. The Master 

 of the Mint prepared an estimate, showing that 10,0002. would be 

 required for a building and machinery sufficient to coin 5,000,000 

 pieces annually, and that a larger outlay would ensure a yet larger 

 ratio of increase in productive power. New South Wales, accepting 

 the terms, transmitted 10,0002. in 1852 for the commencement, of 

 operations. Machinery was sent out in 1854, and the Sydney Mint 

 commenced work in 1855 ; it corned about 450,000 ozs. of gold into 



