Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/593

 Medieval Toivns — their Business and Buildings 505 were crude, with such rough, irregular edges (Fig. 180) that "Clipping" many people yielded to the temptation to pare off a little of the precious metal before they passed the money on. " Clipping," as this was called, was harshly punished, but that did not stop the practice, which continued for hundreds of years. Nowadays our coins are perfectly round and often have "milled" edges, so that no one would think of trying to appro- priate bits of them as they pass through his hands. It was univer- sally believed that everything had a " just " price, which was merely enough to cover the cost of the ma- terials used in its manufacture and to remunerate the maker for the work he had put into it. It was considered outrageous to ask more than the just price, no matter how anxious the purchaser might be to obtain the article. Every manufacturer was required to keep a shop in which he Difficulties offered at retail all that he made. Those who lived near a town wholesal? ° were permitted to sell their products in the market place within ^^^^^ the walls on condition that they sold directly to the consumers. They might not dispose of their whole stock to one dealer, for fear that if he had all there was of a commodity he might raise Medieval Coins The two upper coins reproduce the face and back of a silver penny of William the Conqueror's reign, and below is a silver groat of Edward III. The same ir- regularities in outline will be noted in the ancient coins represented in Fig. 77