CHAP. XXIH. WEAR OF COIN. 183 



country bankers, and that two-thirds of those 

 pieces on which the experiment was made had 

 scarcely or at all circulated, we shall come to the 

 conclusion that the wear of the silver coin is about 

 one part in two hundred annually ; but this re- 

 gards English standard silver alone, and not the 

 coins of inferior fineness. 



This rate corresponds with that reported in the 

 experiments related in Lord Liverpool's letter to 

 the King *. It appears that the officers of the 

 Mint, in 1787> had made an experiment on the 

 silver coins of the kingdom which were then in 

 circulation, and which were much depreciated by 

 wear. The deficiency was ascertained to be at the 

 following extraordinary rates, viz. : on the crown 

 pieces, 3 j-f-j- per cent. ; on the half-crown pieces, 

 9irrlr 1 ? on tne shillings, 24^f -|| ; and on the six- 

 pences, 38-ff-f- * per cent. 2 



The same experiment was repeated again eleven 

 years after, in 1798, when the additional deficiency 

 in weight was found to be, on the crowns, f^-| ; 

 on the half-crowns, If f f ; on the shillings, 5^\^ ; 

 and on the sixpences, 3^-|f P er cent. 



The less increased deficiency on the crowns and 

 half-crowns may be accounted for from the rarity 

 of those pieces, especially of the former, which had 

 become so scarce that whoever got one of them 

 was disposed rather to retain it as a pocket-piece 



* Lord Liverpool's Letter, p. 187. a Appendix, No. 1, C. 



