The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-04 00:00:00

THE MINT.

Everybody knows how money can be spent ;
most people know how it can be earned ; a select
few, pretty equally distributed from the highest to
the lowest classes, know how it is to be saved ; but
very few of any class trouble themselves as to the
mechanical processes by which mere metal is made
into coin, whether gold, silver, or copper. This is
done at the Mint, or, as it is termed, the New
Mint, to distinguish it from its many predecessors.
At one time there were several Mints existing—
those, for instance, at London, at Chester, at Win-
chester, and at York. That at Southwark was con-
tinued in operation later than any, but at last was
removed, and the Mint in the Borough, once so
famous for its production of money, is now a vil-
lanous neighbourhood, only notorious for the cer-
tainty with which persons possessing it are robbed
there. All the Mints were then drawn in and con-
centrated in one central office in the Tower, and
there the works were carried on till about 1806,
when the present, or as it is called the New, Mint,
was built. Few persons who have seen the modest
stone exterior of this building will be inclined to
credit the statement that nearly a quarter of a mil-
lion of money was spent on its erection, though such
is said to be the fact. At all events the New Mint
since 1806 has been the sole coining centre for the
British Empire, where not only all the coins from
farthings to pounds are struck, but where all com-
memorative medals, all medals for the army and
navy, all gold medals for the Board of Trade, all Vi-
ctoria crosses, and all medal decorations of any kind
awarded by the Government, are made and issued.
The history of an establishment so vast, and the ope-
rations of which are so continually varying, must
necessarily be interesting, though so voluminous as
to take its real history far beyond the limits of any
newspaper article. Much, however, may still be told
which will be new and interesting to the great
mass of readers.

There is a popular notion that any one taking
gold, silver, or copper to the Mint can have it at
once made into an equal weight of pounds, shillings,
or pence, and this at one time was the fact. But
it is not so now, except with respect to gold. Time
was when silver plate and bars of copper, gold
ornaments, and gold trinkets used to be left for
coinage. Now, however, the practice has sunk into
desuetude, for the Mint is not bound to return
coin for bullion in less than twenty days, and not
now bound to take private consignments of silver
or copper at all. People find it much more advan-
tageous to dispose of their metals through the ordi-
nary metal and bullion agents, who pay on the
spot, and from these again the bullion agents of
the Mint buy, according as silver or copper is
needed. The Act of the Mint still binds them to
take gold from any who bring it to them to coin,
though, as a rule, these transactions are done
through the Bank of England, which, of course, has
to buy gold in ingots, dust, bars, or foreign coin, and
which either sends it to the Mint for its own pur-
poses, or sells it to the Mint as it may be wanted.
As a fact, however, any one taking gold to the
Mint can have it made into sovereigns, and
the country bears the whole expense of the coinage.
The very last private application which was made
to the Mint came from Mr. Peabody, who sent
about £lO,OOO of old gold of all kinds to be made
into sovereigns. This was the only application of
the kind that has been made for years past. It is a
singular fact that, for the first time in the history
of the Mint, not a single sovereign was struck there
during the whole of last year, nor has one yet been
struck there during this. During nearly fifteen
months, in fact, not a pound sterling in gold has
been added to the currency of the kingdom. It
was thought after the panic of 1866 that the Mint
would have to coin more money ; but the very re-
verse has been the case. The Mint itself is suffer-
ing from the depression which has for a time over-
taken all trades and occupations. The demand
there now is not for pounds, but for shillings and
sixpences, and even at the manufacture of these the
men are only working half-time, and at little more
than half wages.
Before proceeding to describe how the money
itself is manufactured, it may not be out of place to
say a few words as to how currencies die out, and
how certain coins are popular or unpopular for
years. The guinea and the half-crown were always
popular ; the five-shilling piece, the florin, and
tt'e fourpenny piece were always unpopular. The
guinea was first coined in Charles ll.'s reign,
and derived its name from the Guinea Company,
which used sometimes to stamp on it the ele-
phant, as symbolical of its African origin. The
guinea was so popular that its successor, the sove-
reign, was for a long time looked on with dislike.
It may surprise the reader to hear that any coins
of the realm were ever looked on with disfavour,
but the records of the Mint show that the public
are as fastidious in their coins as in their food ; and
there are some which are regarded with such dislike
that the public will not take them till they see they
can get no others. In this way the coinage of
guineas was stopped, and the sovereign forced upon
the public, who have now taken to it very kindly
indeed. But this has not been the case with either
the five-shilling or fourpenny pieces. The former
were old institutions of long standing unpopularity.
Many, even in the simplest retail transactions, re-
fused to receive them. But they were driven out
of circulation by the bankers who sent to the
Mint for silver, and the employers who sent to
their banks for silver, both of whom so con-
stantly stipulated against taking five-shilling
pieces that they remained on the hands of the
Mint. Yet about £2,000 worth of these coins are
made every year to go to the Falkland. Islands.
There the whalers, English, Germans, Swedes, and
Americans, assemble to pass the winter in harbour,
and among them the only accepted currency is the
English five-shilling piece ; for them, therefore, it
is manufactured, and to the Falkland Islands it is
sent. This noble coin, therefore—by far the hand-
somest in our currency—is now no longer issued
in this country, and will soon become as much a
thing of the past as guineas. The fourpenny piece,
which was introduced for the first time in 1836,
has always been so unpopular that its coinage has
been discontinued, and for the last twelve years not
one has been struck. The favourite half-crown,
too, has gone the same way, though not without a
struggle for its retention on the part of bankers
and employers, who took a great aversion to the
florin. But it was useless coining two-shilling pieces
and two-and-sixpenny pieces at the same time, so
the latter have been discontinued, and now only
florins, shillings, sixpences, and threepenny pieces
are struck. What are called the garter sovereigns,
the lion shillings, the rose,- thistle, and shamrock
shillings, have all nearly disappeared from circula-
tion, not only because they come into the Mint and
are re-melted and re-issued in a more modern guise,
but because from their scarcity there is a belief or
kind of general notion that a sort of " luck" at-
taches to them, so they are kept to an extent that
has made good impressions very scarce indeed, and
when they do appear the clearness and sharpness of
their outline show at once how little they have been
in circulation. A curious illustration of this may be
found even so recently as in the history of florins.
The first issue of these were small in size, and the
usual letters F.D. had to be omitted from their cir-
cumference. A sort of protest was raised against
this coinage, which at once received the name of the
" graceless florin." Public attention was thus di-
rected to them, they were kept as specimens, and
though 750,000 were issued, hardly any are in cir-
culation, and none are returned to the Mint.
The amount of damage sustained by spurious
coinage is very small. There are only a very few
i
coiners or " smashers" in London, and as they
have to manufacture by hand—that is to say, to
cast each piece separately in plaster moulds and
afterwards electrotype it--the process is very
slow, and is entirely limited to the silver coinage,
and more especially the florin and the shilling.
" Smashers" never make money to pass themselves.
They make it and sell it in dozens to those willing
to undertake the risk of palming it off on the un-
wary, and the price of these counterfeits is in exact
proportion to the risk incurred in passing them.
'Thus, counterfeit florins of the best class cost as
much as 12s. a dozen, and the best class of shil-
lings 6s. a dozen, and these coins, unless minutely

examined, would be taken offhand by any one ; on
the other hand, shillings can be got as low as 2;1. a
dozen, and common florins for 3s. a dozen. The
smashers" are a peculiar set of rogues, the num-
ber of whom has not much increased or diminished
for the last fifty years. There is a kind of " cut-
ler's law" among them never to tell from whom
they buy the coin, though the Mint police
would rather catch one maker of counterfeit coin
than twenty utterers. Only one formidable attempt
against the gold coin was ever made, and" this was
some three or four years ago. A party of Ger-
mans established themselves secretly at Hamburg,
and entered into a well-considered and deliberate
plan for making English sovereigns. These con-
spirators did not fall into the vulgar error of our
native " smashers" in making actually bad sove-
reigns. They simply put so much additional
alloy into the pure gold as to make its value 17s.
instead of 20s. These adventurers made proper
steel dies, erected presses, and had ail the
appurtenances for the processes which are gone
throughin the English Mint—in fact, they estab-
lished a private mint at Hamburg. Many thou-
sands of their sovereigns got into circulation on the
Continent ; for, in fact, none but the Mint autho-
rities could detect them except by weight.
By this test, however, they were at lsst dis-
covered, the coiners traced, and their place of
business seized. The chief conspirators escaped, but
all their dies, machines, and a very considerable
sum in pure and adulterated gold fell into the hands
of the Hamburg authorities, so that the speculation,
though boldly conceived and skilfully carried out,
was a ruinous one after all. Not half as many
sovereigns were put into circulation as would pay
the first cost of the plant employed in their maufac-
ture. Yet within the last few days one of these
sovereigns was sent back to the Mint from Devon-
shire, simply on account of its extraordinary light-
ness, without apparent wear, and the tests showing
it to be to all appearance standard gold. Of course,
at Tower-hill it was at once recognized and de-
stroyed.

Those who have now and then to pay in sove-
reigns at the Bank of England know how often one .
or two•or more light sovereigns are rejected—that
is to say, not returned, but cut into two or three
pieces, 4d., 6d., or Bd., according to the deficiency of
the piece, being charged for the unpleasant pro-
cess. The popular impression is that these cut
sovereigns go back to the Mint to be remelted and
recoined. But there aro a vast number of trades in
England which require standard gold for all sorts of
purposes, and these regularly go to the Bank to buy
these cut sovereigns. The reason is obvious ; few
trades use so much gold at once as to buy an ingot
of gold, which weighs from 230 to 300 ounces, and
if they did they have seldom the means necessary
to melt it. But they can buy the cut sovereigns by
the ounce or the pound, and though as coins they
may have been light, yet as metal they are known
to be pure. In this manner, between the gilding
and porcelain trades, an immense amount of gold
is annually absorbed. The porcelain trade alone
takes nearly £50,000 worth of gold a year, and
between gilding and porcelain the annual con-
sumption of England and France is estimated at
not less than 40,000 ounces, which is lost to cur-
rency for ever.

.7
Court -

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, March 3.
The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon, at-
tended by the Duchess of Athole.
Prince Leopold went out, attended byMr. Duck-
worth.

Her Majesty drove out this morning, accompanied
by Princess Louise and Princess Beatrice.
WINDSOR CASTLE, March 3.

The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise,
Princess Beatrice, and Prince Leopold left Osborne
this afternoon at three o'clock, and arrived at
Windsor Castle shortly after six.

Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales
drove out, attended by the Countesi of Morton.
The Prince of Wales, attended by Capt. Ellis,
rode out yesterday afternoon.

TIIE KNIGHTS OF TIIE GARTER.—Yesterday
morning Sir C. G. Young's assistants went to Windsor
Castle and placed the arms, banner, and insignia of his
Majesty the Emperor of Russia, one of the newly-created
knights of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, above his
stall in the choir of the Chapel Royal of St. George. The
banner and insignia have been fixed on the north side Of
the choir, near those of the Emperor of the French.
SALE OF A LORD CHANCELLOR'S LIVING.—The
Lord Chancellor's rectory of St. James's Church, Colches-
ter, has been sold, under Lord Westbury's Augmentation
Act, to Lord Braybrooke, who has by a benefaction in-
creased the value of tlle living to £2OO a year. ft is said
to be his lordship's intention to make over the patronage
to the bishop of the diocese.
MR. CHARLES DICKENS IN AMERICA.—Mr. Chas.
Dickens has finally bid farewell to Philadelphia, and will
give readings for the balance of his stay in America in
various cities of New York State and Now England.
He says he will positively leave America in the Cube
on the 22d of April, and, therefore, will be unable to
give any reading in the Western States, a disappoint-
ment that is keenly felt by tho people of that section. In
Hartford, New Haven, Portland, and other towns where
his readings aro announced, the usual anxiety is shown 10
procure tickets, and the sales of seats attract large crowds.
While Mr. Dickens was in Washington his fifty-sixth
birthday overtook him, and he was presented with mall
bouquets, one of them of superb character, being specially
ordered by telegraph from Boston by an eminent literary
lady of that city. Other tokens more rich and substantial
than flowers were also presented by friends and admirers.
Mr. Dickens's net receipts for four nights' readings in
Washington were slightly over $lO,OOO, and for eight
readings in Philadelphia nearly $19,000.

THE QUEEN'S HOUND s.--TheQueen's staghoundo
met at Denham-court, Capt. Lambert's, on Monday, when
a very large field, not less than 500 horsemen, were in
attendance. The Prince of Wales was among them. The
stag, " Doctor," the best and most sure of her Majeety'Es
deer to show sport, was uncarted at Bate's Farm at 12
o'clock, ten minutes' law given him, when the hounds were
laid on, and away they went with so good a will that it
soon became clear none but the best-mounted men could
live with them. Through the Harrow Vale, the stag took
the course right on to Eastcott, through Morton's Farm
to the Ruislip-road, through the top of Deans, across Wel-
shin's Farm, through Prince's, skirting Mr. Templar's, by
Brays, to the top of Harrow Hill, where there was the
first short check. By Mr. Steel's garden he trotted up the
road to the Vaughan Library, when he jumped the rails,
and into Boare's garden, across the road by the Priory to
Sudbury, at the back of the trotting grounds to Perivale
then by Hanger-hill across to the Abbey, through tb°
canal and over the Ealing Steeplechase Course to Willes:
den, across the Midland Railway, and over the canal and
Great Western Railway, up the towing-path to the nog
building plots, Paddington, and into the coal wharves just
below the Paddington station, where he was taken in
stable at Charles-mews. The distance altogether wag
about 22 miles, and perhaps a sharper or better run 109
never seen with hounds, as the time was about 21- hours!
and the country all through about as stiff as can be it°s-
- The Prince was well up throughout the whole
run, with a change of horses. The master, Lord Colville+
also went right well, but of the 500 only about 20 were ecis
Paddington at the finish, and they only who had the g°°
fortune to have a change of horses. Men who know ti°
country will appreciate the first 50 minutes, from Bate !,
Farm to Harrow Steeple—all grass, with the enormor
withe and stake fences that bound the fields. The ground
however, rode fairly light.
ROYAL HORTIC ULTURAL SOCIETY.—An unueu3 .
beautiful and various show of valuable flowers was mad°
at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society trt
South Kensington yesterday. The specimens
notable for rarity and artistic cnitivation were orc.hit u m 4!
and the finest among them was an example of Oucid oma
macranthum, which came 'from the collection of
Londesborough. There was a large attendance of men'
hers. Mr. Wilson Saunders, F.R S., presided. Th.°9_,
fol-
lowing new fellows were elected ; Mr. William .Ad:r;
Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Forbes, Lieutenant-General Hay,,
Jones, Mrs. Loveland, Dr. H. R. Madden, Mr. (xe
Thomas Selby, &c.
THE GRENADIER GUARDS.--Yesterd Ay
a battalion of Grenadier Guards left the Wellington
rcaoelkdsstreneatnros,utwe
hfoorhaDveubbliene,a wfhareresotmheey
maroenttoharelriearle_sAtilett:
tioned there. The Grenadiers mustered 540 straen.F!blftle
pendent of officers. The departure was witnessn largo
Prince of Wales from Marlborough House, 010%012•
crowd of spectators wh° lined the rogd. to Euetoo