Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/507

Rh MINT 485 withdrawal and recoinage of silver money is now covered by the seigniorage arising from the difference between the real and the nominal value of the coins. Before the adop tion of gold as the sole standard of value, the conditions attending the withdrawal and recoinage of silver were much the same as those for gold. In the period between the reign of Charles II. and the accession of William III. the condition of the silver coinage became so unsatisfactory as to demand the attention of parliament. A recommendation made at the suggestion of Sir Isaac Newton for a recoinage of silver was at first strenuously opposed, but was finally adopted. In the course of the discussion the question of raising the standard of weight and fineness arose, and this important change would probably have been made but for the representations of Locke, who warmly took up the question and convinced the Government of the desirability of preserving the established standard. In the great recoinage of silver, the loss arising from clipped and defaced coin was borne by the public, the money being raised by means of a special tax on glass windows. The silver reissued at this time amounted to 7,000,000, and the tax raised to cover loss and the expenses of coinage to 1,200,000. The work of this recoinage was so great that the resources of the mint in London were found to be unequal to the pressure put upon them, and therefore mints were either revived or established for the first time in a few of the large provincial towns. In addition to this ten furnaces were erected behind the Treasury at Whitehall to melt down the old pieces. By these means the renovation of the silver coinage was completed within the year. The new silver coins then issued were the first which had milled edges, the milling having been introduced in order to prevent clipping. The mode in which the silver currency is distributed throughout the kingdom is explained by the late Mr George Forbes, cashier of the Bank of England, as follows : Every banker in the kingdom has a banker who is his agent in London. Every London banker has an account with the Bank of England. In the Bank of England there is a department devoted to the issue and receipt of silver coin. If in a district there is a deficiency of silver currency, the bankers of the district are the first to find it out. They at once write to their London agents, who draw on their account with the Bank of England, and obtain what silver is required, which they send to the country banker. On the other hand, if there is a surplus of silver in a district it accumulates in the coffers of the local bankers, who send it up to their London agents, and they send it into the Bank of England. If there is a general demand for silver currency, the stock which the Bank of England endeavours to keep on hand becomes unduly diminished, and immediate notice of the fact is conveyed to the mint authorities, who proceed with all convenient speed to coin a supply of florins, shillings, sixpences, or of all of these coins, as the nature of the demand may require. Gold bullion for coinage is supplied to the mint almost entirely by the Bank of England, the bank being bound by law to purchase at the rate of 3, 17s. 9d. an ounce any gold bullion of the legal standard which the public may bring for sale. Private individuals are permitted to bring bullion to the mint, and to receive back the full amount (at 3, 17s. 10|d. an ounce) converted into coin, free of any charge for loss or manufacture ; but, as they are subject to considerable delay, all &quot; importations &quot; of bullion being converted into coin in the order in which they are brought to the mint, the public practically prefer to sell their bullion to the bank, and receive its value without delay. In order to be accepted by the bank, the bullion must be cast into ingots and assayed, a guarantee being given by certain recognized assayers that the gold is of a certain standard fineness. This is known as the &quot; trade assay.&quot; When the bank requires gold to be struck, due notice is sent to the deputy master, and on a fixed day the bullion is conveyed to the mint and delivered into his custody. It arrives in the form of ingots, each weighing about 200 ounces, the aggregate value of each importa tion being about 144,000. When the ingots arrive at the mint a small sample is taken from each and assayed, 1 the result being sent to the authorities of the bank in order that it may be compared with that of the trade assay. If the bank authorities find that the two assays agree, within certain limits, as to weight and fineness, the ingots are immediately sent to the operative department of the mint to be converted into coin. The mint assay affords the basis for calculating the amount of copper, the alloying metal, that must be melted with the gold in order to produce the standard prescribed by law. The case of silver is somewhat different, the bullion being purchased by the department at its market value, which varies from year to year. During the ten years ending 1881 the average price of silver bullion sank gradually from GOy^d. to 51-ffd. The silver bullion arrives at the mint in the form of ingots, each of which weighs about 1000 ounces, the value of each set of ingots varying considerably. The ingots, both of gold and silver, are weighed on a balance capable of turn ing with 1 grain when loaded with 1200 ounces. The operations of coining have undergone some slight changes with the introduction of new machinery and the increased extent of the Koyal Mint, since the reconstruc tion of the operative department in 188 1. 2 The plan (fig. 1) shows the present arrangement of the operative department. The operations employed in the manufacture of gold and silver coin are as follows (incidental operations being printed in smaller type) : I. Assaying the bullion. II. Melting the metal. (a) Addition of the amount of copper necessary to form the prescribed alloy ; (b) pouring the metal into moulds so as to form bars ; (c) dressing these bars to remove rough edges and hollow ends ; (d) recovery of precious metals from crucibles and &quot;sweep.&quot; III. Assaying portions of metal cut from certain bars, to ascertain whether sufficient accuracy has been attained in the standard fineness. IV. Rolling the bars into strips or &quot; fillets.&quot; Annealing the fillets (in some cases). V. Adjusting the fillets by a final rolling, and in some cases by the use of the drawbench. Testing the fillets to ascertain whether they are of suffi cient accuracy as regards thickness. VI. Cutting out disks or blanks from the fillets. Adjusting the blanks in weight (in some mints). VII. Edge-rolling the blanks to produce a raised rim. Annealing the blanks and (in some cases) &quot;blanching&quot; or pickling &quot; them in dilute acid. VIII. Coining, or stamping the device on the blanks, by means of engraved steel dies. Milling the edges of the blanks or (in some cases) im pressing a device, inscription, or ornament upon them. IX. Weighing each coin, usually by the aid of automatic machinery. X. Assaying and weighing pieces taken from the finished coin before it is issued to the public. The foregoing list will make it clear that the operations of minting consist, not simply in the mechanical production of accurately adjusted disks of metal the purity alone of 1 The assays are conducted in the manner already described in the articles ASSAYING and GOLD. 2 In order to provide a stock of silver coin during the temporary suspension of the work of the mint, a large coinage of silver was issued, and 50 tons of bronze coins were manufactured by contract in the autumn of 1881. The governor of the Bank of England had previously reported that the stock of gold coin held by the bank was abnormally large, and that no inconvenience would arise &quot;if the mint were to cease coining sovereigns and half-sovereigns for a period of six months or a year or even more.&quot;