480 ON THE PRICE OF METALS. 



144 T and 1444 the price at York is 26s. 5\d.-, in 1442, 26s. 3 

 In 1456 and 1457 ^ * s again 28.$-. at York. In 1459 it falls 

 as low as iSs. 8d. In 1470 it is at the enormous price of 

 74^. M. ; in 1471 it is 33^. \d.\ in 1472 it is 37^. ^d. the 

 hundredweight, at which price it stands in 1478, 1481, 1485, 

 1497, and 1498. In 1503 it costs 28^. at Oxford; in 1504, 42^. 

 at York. In 1512 it is 56.$-. at Oxford, where it is double the 

 price of solder. In 1515, 1521, 1525 it is 37^. 4^. In 1529 it 

 is 37^. ^d. at Sion, and 465. $>d. at York, being at the latter 

 price in 1530 at Oxford, and in 1535 at York. 



In 1559 *- m * s 6&. 4^- ^ e hundredweight; in 1569, 56.$-. 

 In 1571 it is bought in large quantities for the queen's use 

 at prices varying from 50^. to 58.$-., the average being 54^-. 7^. 

 The average of the thirty-six entries between 1402 and 1535 

 is 33.$-. ioj<f., that of the three latest entries is 58^. $d. nearly. 



Tin was beaten into leaf; for we find at Sion, in 1-512 and 

 1517, entries of tinfoil at id. and $d. the dozen, and in 1570 

 at ^d. in London. 



BRASS AND COPPER. These are principally purchased in 

 the form of manufactured vessels or other articles, in the later 

 part of the period occasionally in an unmanufactured state. 

 Bell-metal is also found. The entries of such brass and copper 

 vessels, numerous enough to supply me with decennial averages 

 for a dozen pounds of such manufactured articles, show a 

 curious correspondence between the price of the ounce of 

 silver and the dozen pounds of solder, pewter, and brass or 

 copper vessels, the pewter dozen being slightly the dearest and 

 the solder being cheapest of the three, though all being worth 

 more, both in the early and later period, than the ounce of 

 silver. 



In the later part of the period copper is sold by the hundred- 

 weight or quintal, the two quantities being identical. The 

 price is 74^. $d. in 1566, 1574, and 1576. There are two 

 entries by the quintal in 1570 at 6$s. ^d. and 40^. Copper 

 plate is also sold in 1577 at 102^. %d. the hundredweight, or 

 nd. the pound; and copper nails in 1561 at is. 4d. the pound. 



