179761. 
Engravings of thefe tradefmen’s to- 
kens have been publithed 1 in great num- 
bers, by Thorefby, in the Ducatus Leo- 
dienfis ; by Drake, in his Hiftory of 
York ; by Mr. Brand ; and in the Gen- 
tleman’s Magazine. Several perfons 
have been curious to preferve them in 
their colle€tions of old coins; for which 
they are expofed to the fevere ridicule of 
Mr. Pinkerton, in his valuable effay on 
medals; with what juftice, Ido not en- 
tirely fee ; unlefs the value of old coins 
were efiimated by their workmanthip, 
which I conceive to be by,no means the 
cafe ; but rather by their ufe in: illuf- 
trating points of hiftory, and conv eying 
fome dee of the manners and cuitoms of 
the times when they were ftruck. In 
this re{pect, though the workmanthip is 
wretched, and ne materials moft com- 
monly pewter, or bad copper, they have , 
a value, though, it may be, only a tri- 
fling one. 
The fecond clafs of private coins, thofe 
ftruck in the civil wars, were the off- 
fpring of neceffity, rather than conve- 
nience. In thefe unhappy times, which 
no friend to humanity can rejoice to fee 
revived in any country, it became ne- 
ceflary for commanders, when clofely be- 
fieged, or otherwife deprived of the 
means of obtaining regular fupplies of 
mofiey, to devife {ome method of paying 
their troops, and of purchafing necet- 
faries, with fomething that might ferve 
as a fecurity, the beit the could give, 
fur payment in afiual money when affairs 
fhould take a more favourable turn. My 
late excellent friend, Mr. Landeil, had a 
pewter coin of this kind, Rruck by Char les 
t, at Newark : it is of a diamond form, 
ane by its infcription, feems intended to 
hae been a pledge fy d fhilling. a, 
father has a piece of lead or pewter, witha 
fmall fquare bar of copper «ruck through 
it, which he fuppofes to have been ftruck 
by James I, for the payment of his army 
m Ireland. Various coins of this kind 
mav be feenin Rapin’ sHinory of England. 
The lat clafs of private coins js that, 
ef which the inclofed {pecimens, with 
your permiffion, folicit the attention of 
the fociety ; and which has fuggetted the 
idea of this perhaps tedious ree ae 
Thefe cotms have been occafioned b 
great miftake in the regulations ae 
st prefent govern the preparation of the 
authorifed copper coinage of this king- 
dom. ‘There feems to be no rule more 
indifpenfable, in fixing ae proportion of 
@ coin, than this—that it < thould contain 
Private Copper Coinage. 
308. 
the full value, or, at leat, very nearly fo, 
of the metal of which it is compofed, 
according to the prefent market-price of 
that metal: for, otherwife, you hold out 
‘an-almoft irrefifttble temptation to coun- 
terfeit. Whether this rule was obferved 
at the'time of the firft copper coinage, f 
am not fufliciently acquainted with the 
fluctuations in the price of.copper to 
judge; but, from analogy, I fhould think’ 
it probable that it was; and that the 
officers of the mint have fince been more 
attentive to keep the halfpenny to its 
cuftomary fize, than to proportion it to 
the depreciation in the value of the metal. 
However this be, it is certain, that the 
pound of copper, which is worth no more 
than ten-pence, is now coined into no lefs 
than fix and forty halfpence: fo that a 
Birmingham manufagturer can get more 
than cent. percent. by making even good. 
halfpence ; and was enabled to afford 
fuch money as he found would fell, five 
‘years ago, at the rate of 33]. per cent. 
This operating as a ftrong temptation to 
too many mafters. to pay their workmen 
in copper, and that of the worft kind, 
its accumulation in the fhops of the eG 
dealers became an object of very feriows 
alarm; and obliged them, at length, in 
many places, though to their great im- 
mediate lofs, to determine upon Its entire 
refufal. The workmen in the copper- 
mines, too, who knew its’ real price, 
were unwilling to receive in payment 
one-third of the value of their wages.— 
In this dilemma, the directors ah the 
mines, unable to procure filver, which 
was, and continues to be, not only much 
adulterated, but greatly diminifhed in 
quantity, had no cther refource than to 
tirike off tokens at the full value of the 
copper, which, being readily accepted 
by the workmen, have been imitated by 
the enon of other extenfive works, 
and their circulation is daily increafing. 
Indeed, I can fee no poffible way of puat- 
ting a op to them, unlefs government 
fhould follow, by at leatt doubling ee 
fize of the current halfpenn wy ; and 2 
the fame time accepting the offers of Wie, 
Bolton, to apply the vaft power of his 
new-invented fteam-engine to imprefs 
a desice, which, for beauty and relief, 
fhould not be imitable without the fame 
extenfive and unconcealable apparatus. 
This, together with a new filver coinage, 
and an enforcement of the law againft the 
payment of copper, except as change, 
would fpeedily occafion the recal of. this 
private money, which would then ne 
longes 
