The Express.
London, England, 1847-07-30 00:00:00

Let coulee
ley (C.), 231;

PROVINCIAL•

A HINT TO DZPOSITOaa op COINS IN CORNER STINTS.—
During the forenoon of Monday last, whilst the workmen
were taking down the outer walls of the ?repent Exchange,
Manchester, they discovered the foundation or corner stone
of the edifice which was placed near the Eiehang• street-
door. The cavity in the stone was covered by • brass plate,
about twelve inches by ten, on which was engraved the fol-
lowing inscription:
The earner stone of this building, undertaken by public enbeerip-
Mon, for tits isecornrocdation and ornament of the town of Manchester,
was laid' -lse list day of July, In the year of our Lord, 1006.—Wn.
Fox, Pp., florougbreere.
On removing the plate which was Ist into the stone, avast of
white porcelain was found. It was covered with a gilded
metal tray, resembling those used foe whist counters. This
tra is ornamented by a portrait in relief of " Admiral Lord
Nelson," surrounded by • border of acorns and oak leaves.
This vase was (=pa; but on taking it out of the cavity, a
twopenny picot of the reign of George 111., coined in the
year 1797. was found beneath it. On turning to " Aston's
Picture of Manchester," we Bad the following account of
the seesaw of laying the teandation stook ea the 21st
J uly, 1806, jest forty-one yew ego last Wedowalay :
OR the Motet July, 1806, the But dome of the balling was laid,
(intim oases of Wm. Pon, Eel., the leseeshateree hr that year) by
O. PhOlpe, roo., attended by tha eseelalee sew et the reb-
inding, unlit the *edits fzivest eseseene weeep* who eat-
, side' the orette aid Shell* et `
passes[
does. metele yam
F etteeteds Me wahili. mai mini et lerliatiortelhee
ma Kr. 1111. wee bowleg Me Ile hem be weer e the
treat le them ina, elm thee Ala Wag these hob her enftaity
to the view of lobes seitheerlesh"
The " marble me" proves to be a emotes porcelain bis.
cuit ; and as for tke coins of Osage 111. and the Nelms and
Pitt medals, they have all dieappeared, save the twopenny
piece, which was found not in, but below the vase, in the
cavity of the stone. Several persons were present when
these relies were found, and there is no reason to sup-
pose that the abstraction is • recent one. The inner
surface of the vase shows no marks such as the oxyda-
tion
of medals in contact with • damp, porous plaster,
must have made and the vase shows on one side
some dark stains, just as if a dirty band or fingers
had been drawn upwards, inside. from these circum-
stances, we (Manchester Guardian) are inclined to be-
lieve that the bidden treasure was removed • few
hours after it bad been depo6ted, in all probability by
some of the workmen em*yed. And on inquiring the
weight of the upper stone, which had been deposited over
that in which the cavity was contained and the inscription
plate deposited, we found that it was of small size, weighing
only about 1.5 cwt., and that it was let down upon dowels,
fixed on the lower stone ; so that it was easy far two or three
men to raise this Beene, and take the coins, &c. from the
vase. We understand that this is by no means the first
instance of the kind in this neighbourhood. On discovering
the foundation stone of the national schools in Salford a short
I time since, all the coins had been abstracted from their place
of deposit.
• ••••••••••••,••••••••

THE Qexam DOWAGER has eontrtbuted • handsome dona-
tion towards the renovation and enlargement of Heather
Church, Leicester. The Earl and Countess Howe have like-
wise afforded • liberal sum for carrying out that laudable
undertaking.