Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 1.djvu/160

158 the king's measure was made so that an English penny, which is called the sterling, round without clipping, shall weigh thirty-two grains of wheat dry in the midst of the ear." This is the origin of the weight still called a pennyweight, though it now contains only twenty-four grains. The process of coining was equally rude. First, the metal, as appears from an entry in the Red Book of the Exchequer in the reign of Edward I., "was cast from the melting-pot into long bars; those bars were cut with shears into square pieces of exact weights; then with the tongs and hammer they were forged into a round shape; after which they were blanched, that is, made white or refulgent by nealing or, boiling, and afterwards stamped or impressed with a hammer, to make them perfect money. And this kind of hammered money continued through all the succeeding reigns, till the year 1663, when the milled money took place."