482 MINT designed by Leonardo da Vinci, and similar work is attri buted to Benvenuto Cellini. In very early times the silver coins were equal in weight and in tale, each penny weighing 24 grains or 1 penny weight. The amount now denominated a pound was a pound weight of standard or sterling silver. This principle was in fact, however, not strictly adhered to, the coins frequently falling below the standard of weight. This deviation may possibly have arisen from the imperfection of the methods of manufacture, but Ruding (Annals of the Coinage) considers it to have occurred from design, as the deficiency in weight was sometimes made a source of profit. The deviation from the standard weight permitted by law, now called the " remedy," and anciently called the " shere," was taken advantage of to a large extent, so that the coins suffered considerable diminution, particularly when, as frequently happened, they were also " clipped " as soon as they were issued. When these coins were called in they were taken by weight and not by tale, so that the posses sors suffered considerable loss. In later times the great improvements in the method of manufacture made it easy to attain far greater accuracy both of weight and fineness ; consequently the remedy permitted by law has been con siderably reduced, and the possibility of making a large amount of profit by this means proportionally diminished. 1 The seigniorage levied on the coining of money was not a fixed rate, but varied considerably at different times, and accrued from a deduction made from the bullion coined. It was abolished by an Act of Charles II., which provided that whoever brought sterling silver or standard gold to the mint should receive in exchange an equal weight of current coin, the expenses of coining being defrayed by means of duties levied upon certain commodities of common use. The seigniorage on silver was revived in the reign of George III., when that part of the Act of Charles II. which related to the coining of silver without charge was repealed, and another Act was passed, requiring every pound of silver to be coined into sixty-six shillings instead of sixty-two, the four shillings realized on each pound of silver by this depreciation of its value being handed over to the master of the mint to defray the expenses of assay ing, loss, and manufacture. An Act of William IV. required the seigniorage on the silver coinage to be paid to the credit of the Consolidated Fund, and the charges of the mint to be brought annually before parliament. Against the profit derived by the state from this source must be placed the expense of maintaining the silver coinage in a condition fit for circulation by frequently withdrawing, recoining, and reissuing the silver coins. A vote of 15,000 is annually taken in the mint estimates for the loss on the recoinage of silver. In former times the work of the mint was performed by contract, the mint master undertaking the manufacture of the coinage at a stated price, and paying the moneyers and other officers and workmen under him at a fixed tariff. The agreement made between the crown and the mint master, called the "master s indenture," was sometimes purposely kept secret. This system appears to have pre vailed from the reign of Edward I., when an agreement was entered into between the king and the first master of the mint (appointed about 1279). Under this agreement 1 Two notable instances are recorded of the use that has been made at various times of the shere, or remedy, as a means of profit, one being in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when Lonison, then master of the mint, finding the allowance made him under his contract was in sufficient to cover the expenses of coining, availed himself of the remedy on the silver coinage, amounting to 6|d. in the pound troy. The other occurred at the time of the great recoinage of silver in the reign of William III., when the profit of the shere amounted to 3d. per pound weight, or rather more than 8s. in every hundred pounds of money. an allowance was secured to the master to cover all the ex penses of coinage. Although the master of the mint ceased to be a contractor, the arrangement with the managers con tinued in force up to 1851. The work of coinage was transferred in 1810 from the Tower of London, where it had been carried on for many centuries, to the present Mint on Tower Hill, not far from the Bank of England. The head of the department, as has already been stated, is the chancellor of the exchequer for the time being, who is ex offitio master of the mint, the practical direction of the work being placed in the hands of a permanent officer, the deputy master, who is responsible for its due performance. From the English mint is supplied the coinage for the whole of the British empire, including the colonies, with the exception of Australia ; the latter and the East Indies are supplied from branch mints estab lished at Sydney and Melbourne, and the mints of Calcutta and Bombay. In addition to the gold, silver, and bronze coins current in the United Kingdom, the English mint strikes gold coins of the value of two dollars for New foundland ; silver coins of the value of fifty, twenty-five, twenty, ten, and five cents respectively for Newfoundland and Canada ; bronze pence and halfpence of special design for Jersey, and nickel pence, halfpence, and farthings for the West Indies. The number of coins of each separate denomination issued varies considerably in different yea^s, the demand for special denominations of coin naturally determining the supply. The following table (from official sources) shows the value of the gold and silver coins issued during the ten years 1871-81. The total value of the bronze coin issued in the same period is 112,890. Gold Coinage. 2 Silver Coinage. Sovereigns. Half-Sovereigns. Total Value. Half-Crowns. Florins.
1872 13,643,885 1,617,556 15,261,441 692,010 1873 2,382,835 1,001,733 3,384,568 51)6,574 1874 519,629 941,936 1,461,565 273,240 180,774 1875 243,264 243,264 138,996 114,246 1876 3,294,705 1,401,943 4,696,648 79,200 60,786 1877 981,468 981,468 55,836 68,706 1878 1,106,289 1,158,780 2,265,069 183,150 178,596 1879 17,525 17,525 35,050 112,662 135,432 1880 3,645,853 504,199 4,150,052 168,102 232,254 1881 280,170 256,806 24,610,721 7,868,408 32,479,129 1,291,356 2,516.184 Silver Coinage. 3 Date. Shillings. Six pences. Four- pences. Three pences. Two- pences. Pence. Totals.
s.
s.
5.
1872
443,322
94,446
69 6
13,916 2
39 12
33
1,243,836
1873
324.324
109,890
69 6
50,744 2
39 12
33
1,081,674
1874 I 275,022
105,732
69 6
55,694 2
39 12
33
890,604
1875
217,800
81,378
69 6
41,438 2
39 12
33
594.000
1876
38,412
20,988
69 6
22,826 2
39 12
33
222,354
1877
163,350
101,772
69 6
31,142 2
39 12
33
420,948
1878
156.222
65,538
69 6
30,350 2
39 12
33
613,998
1879
180,576
83,160
69 6
37,082 2
39 12
33
549,054
1880
242,154
96,426
69 6
22,430 2
39 12
33
761,508
1881
262,548
156,816
69 6
40,646 2
39 12
33
997,128
2,303,730
916,146
693
346,269
396
330
7,375,104
The British sovereign or twenty-shilling piece was first issued
by proclamation dated 1st July 1817, superseding the guinea or
twenty-one-shilling piece. Crown pieces of the nominal value of
five shillings were first struck in the reign of Henry VIII., six
pences and threepenny-pieces are first mentioned in the reign of
Edward VI. , while the groat or fourpenny-piece was coined as early
as the reign of Edward I. ; the florin or two-shilling-piece was
introduced in 1849. Copper money was first coined by Charles I.
in 1665, but does not appear to have been issued until 1672. Copper
was replaced by bronze in 1860.
The weight and fineness of the various denominations of coin
struck at the Royal Mint is shown in the first schedule of the Coin
age Act (33 Viet. c. 10), 1870 :
2 In these gold returns fractions of pounds sterling are omitted.
3 The numbers and weights of the fourpences, twopences, and pence,
being Maundy coins, are the same for each of the years : 4518 four
