ON THE PRICE OF METALS. 481 



Brass wire is bought at 4$-. the stone in 1509, and at $s. in 

 1527. It costs $d. and 4\d. the pound in 1512, 9^. in 1539 

 and 1543. The stone probably contained twelve pounds. 



Old brass, of which there are three entries in 1496, 1510, 

 I 5 I 5> is s ld on each occasion at i\d. the pound; in 1551 it 

 fetches 4^. ; in 1563, $\d. and 5^., the last being a sale of 

 organ pipes. In 1568 it is 3^.; in 1547 it is sold at 19^-. the 

 hundredweight ; in 1578 at 2,$s. 



In 1455 thirteen and a half pounds of ' Mullobrass ' are 

 bought by the Coleshull bailiff at 3^. the pound, and three 

 halfpence a pound is paid for casting the material. I have 

 not been able to find what the material is. 



Bell metal is occasionally found. In 1437 a 58 Ib. bell costs 

 15^. In 1472 York Minster buys two bells, one of 7^-cwt. 6 Ib. 

 at 32.?. the hundredweight, another of i7i cwt. at 2,6s. $d. In 

 1499 a 64 Ibs. bell costs 17^.; in 1507 a bell weighing 37 Jibs, 

 is bought at ^\d. the pound, and the old metal of the discarded 

 bell (33 Ibs.) is sold at id. In 1524 a hundredweight of bell 

 metal is priced 26s. %d. ; in 1533 i^cwt. 10 Ibs. are valued at 

 48^. In 1534 and 1536 bell metal is worth ^d. a pound ; in 

 1563, 6d. ; in 1570, %d. ; in 1572, 6d., and in 1574 a hundred- 

 weight is put at 2,6s. 



In the subjoined tables, the first column in the first table is 

 the price of lead by the fother in pigs ; the second is the same 

 article rolled ; the third is the price of solder by the dozen ; the 

 fourth and fifth that of pewter and brass or copper vessels, the 

 latter distinguished by the letter c prefixed to the entry. The 

 second table is of decennial averages, with the addition of 

 similar averages for silver or silver plate. 



VOL. IV. i i 



