The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-08-03
AMAZING COINAGEOF
The VICTORIAN ERA
Published Report of Horace 'Sey
mour, Controller of Eng
lands Mint.

London, Aug. Not only numismatists
but all who handle coins Of the realm, ap-
preciated for many years the pains which
the late Horace Seymour, c. B.. Deputy
Master and Controller of the Mint, took &c
render his successive reports interesting
His last compilation has just been pub
lished, and had its author lived it would
have been his first publication as a knlgnt
of the Order of the Bath He died the DAY
gefore the coronation honors were Issued
The report Is in part a review OF the coin
age of the Victorian era Covering a period
OF SO many years, It is not surprising that
the figures as 10 the number OF coins pro-
duced should be large, but they prove 10
be colossal. Summarizing the manufacture,
II is pointed out that bearing the ethgy OF
Queen Victoria there were coined on I'M
perIal account f291 lis, l3o in gold, tS5,&o,lU
in silver, Ell .916 in copper and f3,V2l.I3b IN
bronze pieces, a total value, real and nom
inal, of 1884, 22,4 49,. represented by ZE-sA'-
6g2 pieces.
If TO this total is added the work done by
the department for the Colonies and de-
pendencies, the aggregate OF pieces IS IN
creased to 3,029, 275, $50. In other words, apart
from the thousands of millions OF stamps
used in the period during which queen
Victoria reigned, this incomprehensible
ing metal discs and passed out of the mint
to circulate wherever men were engaged In
barter.
The Deputy Master gives an interesting
outline of the designs on the coins Of King
Edward VII:
Although the department was fully en-
ployed during the year, the value and num-
Der of the imperial pieces struck showed a
very marked decrease as compared with
last year and with the average OF the last
coinage in the United Kingdom was un-
usually slack throughout the last three
quarters of the year. This result was prob
ably due to the lessenec activity of trade,
but the large issues Of recent years, espe-
cially in the case OF silver, no doubt also
The fact is that the value Of last years
issues was only f3,6sS, 4S1, compared with
f15. 776, 16s in the previous year, and fS,7O5,SO
the mean Of the last ten years, marking a
notable falling of, but there was an in
crease In the colonial coinage Tn STAFF
was kept unusually busy weighing, over
paragraph In this section of the report, re-
ferring to what are commonly known as
"~cartwheels," is noteworthy:
The Issue of crowns was remarkably
small. and was confined to pieces struck in
1900, none having been coined in 1901. They
are chiefly in demand for the purpose OF
paying wages, and 1t is probable that recent
issues have proved sufficient to meet local
needs in the chief centers of labor in which
they circulate. None were required for the
colonies, which absorbed, however, more
than 50 per cent of the total silver Issue.
The only other denomination of which the
larger proportion was retained for Use in
where, out of a total issue of 1881. 200
pieces, $4,000 passed into the home circu-
lauon.
Naturally the preparation of medals kept
the staff at the mint very busy, for. apart
from the wars in South Africa, China and
Ashanti, and the operations IN Basutoland,
Transkei, and Bechuanaland which the
Cape Government desired to specially COM
memorate-there is a continued demand for
ordinary royal and military purposes and
for learned societies. Although the medal
work was very considerable, the greater
portion Of the work Of striking South Afri-
can medals and clasps was carried out by
contractors in London and Birmingham.
Taking 1900 and 1901 together, the total
number Of South African medals struck
under the supervision of this department
has been 10000. of which 10000 were Ie-
struck. involving additional operations. The
clasps granted, originally of twelve kinds,
have been raised to twenty-four, ard the
numbers struck up to -he close OF 1901, ir-
respective of those returned to the melting
pot, were 6S6.071, Of which 1875. 552 were Is
sued. No fewer than 5000 medals were
melted down and restruck to obliterate the
date, and 10000 clasps, which were pre-
pared before the pattern was changed, were
melted.