362 SMALL PRODUCE OF MINES CHAP. XIV. 



their weight in gold and silver, riot having 

 very considerably varied. The small quantity 

 of gold and silver in existence during the period 

 in question may be^ inferred from the very 

 small portion of coined money which was issued 

 from the several mints after the operations of 

 coining were performed exclusively by the chiefs 

 of the several kingdoms, or by those to whom 

 that privilege was specially granted. 



There are in the records at the Tower, the 

 exchequer, and the mint, some accounts of the 

 latter department in England from a very early 

 period, when our kings exercised the business 

 of coining. The sources from which the sup- 

 plies of the precious metals were drawn are 

 however by no means accurately indicated. In 

 the reign of Edward II. the silver which was 

 brought to the mint was classed into that which 

 was produced from the royal mines, and into 

 that of foreign countries ; and the latter was 

 divided into three other classes, distinguished as 

 argentum cismarinum, argentum transmarinum, 

 and bullion 1 . 



We have found no accounts by which any 

 calculation can be formed of the proportion 

 which these several descriptions of silver bore 



1 This distribution was preserved in the next reign ; after 

 which no traces of it are to be found in the mint accounts at 

 the exchequer. See vol. i, p. 126, of Ruding on coins. 





