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BLOCKS OF TIN FOUND IN FOWEY HARBOUR. 



The following notes on some tin-blocks found in Fowey 

 Harbour in the year 1898 are of interest. They were foiind at 

 a spot just N.E. of the new quay at Bodinnick, about 8 feet below 

 the bed of the river. It is possible that they were drojiped there 

 in process of shipping. 



Blocks of Tin taken from Fowey Harhour. 



In 1898 samples of tin were received by my firm, Williams, 

 Harvey & Co., from the Fowey Harbour Board, with a request 

 that we would offer a price for five blocks. We found the 

 quality to be excellent and our offer was accepted. 



I carefully and minutely inspected each block, thinking I 

 might obtain some clue to their age, but with the exception of 

 one, on which there was a very superficial double cross, which 

 might have been the private mark of the maker, there was no 

 indication of a manufacturer's name, or mark, or of the coinage 

 stamp, which should have been found if the tin had been passed 

 through the Coinage Hall, as was required by law as far back as 

 the days of Leland's Itinerary, and down to the last century. 



My inference therefore is that these blocks belong either to 

 a time previous to the institution of the Coinage law, or else that 

 they had surreptitiously been taken to Fowey to be shi2:)ped in 

 contravention to the existing law. 



Possibly there may be some ground for the first inference, 

 from the fact that the sides and bottoms of the blocks show all 

 the signs of having been cast in a rough-hewn granite mould, 

 such as the ancients were known to use before the adoption of 

 cast iron moulds. 



The custom during the Coinage days was to make the blocks 

 of almost uniform weight, about 6 to the ton ; but in this case the 

 weights were irregular as were also the thicknesses, the length 

 being 23 inches and the width 1 1 inches ; the weights of the several 

 blocks were as follows:— 328 lbs., 256 lbs., 322 lbs., 317 lbs., 

 368 lbs. ; total 1591 lbs. ; or 14-cwt. 0-qrs. 23-lbs. 



