Year: 1869




The Mechanics Magazine gives the fol-
loving account of the decidedly primitive
meth DDS by which Jspane>e silver money is
coined at the Government mint at Yeddo:


\ lump Of silver of the necessary tine
ne-s, Obtained either from the Government
mines or by melting down Mexican dollars,
is placed in an iron ladle and reduced to a
mol'en state by means of charcoal fire and
pair Of blacksmuhs bellows. 1t is then
poured into a mould, from which it /, taken
out in the shape Of thin rectangular bars.
which are Immediately thrown into a tub Of
cold water On being taken out, a man
seated on the ground, shears off, with pair
Of large fixed scissors, all jagged pieces ad-
herring to the angles They are now handed
to another man, who weighs them one by
one, and piece is cut off, if necessary, to
reduce the bar TO its proper weight. The
next process is that OF dividing the bar by a
fixed pair Of shears into eight equal portions
Of the size of ichibus. This is done by a
workman cutting it as accurately as his prac-
ticed eye would enable him; and his work is
tested by weighing, light pieces being rejec-
ted, and the heavy ones reduced to their
proper weight by the scissors. The pieces
are now heated whife-hot in a charcoal FIRE,
plunged into wafer, builed, and washed in
kind of brine, from which they come out
with a moderately bright surface. They are
next very slightly miled on the two sides,
aud more deeply on the edges, by means Of
a milled hammer They are now ready for
stamping A man places one Of the pieces
90 a stationary die, and lays on the top the
other die; a second man, armed with huge
hammer, gives one blow on the upper die,
and the coin is struck The plows are dealt
in rapid succession, and the whole scene re
minds one of blacksmith shop Boys now
punch small stars on the edges by means Of
chisels and hammers The coins are weigh
ed one by one for the last time aud the light
ones are rejected. The imperial stamp is
added by means Of another stamped chisel
and mallet, and the coins are complete
They are rolled up in paper packets Of one
hundred; each packet is weighed and mark
ed with a seal, which serves as a guarantee
of its contents, and gives it currency as one
hundred ebibus.


'While every operation is performed in
this primitive manner, perfect order prevails
in the establishment; every man goes
through his portion of the work in silence,
and with the regularity OF clock work, and
many evince considerable skill. There are
about three hundred hands employed in the
building When the men enter in the morn
ing they are made TO divest themselves Of
their OWN clothes, and put on Others belong
ing to the mint. At the end of the day S
curious spectacle is presented of three hun
dIed men spribging from the ground on
which they bad been seated, throwing off
their clothes, and rushing, naked throng.
To one end Of a yard Here they pass
through the following ord al to prove that
they have no silver on them: Their back
hair Is pulled down and examined thy
wash their hands and hold Them up TO view;
ttGt NtiNA Nd CI3 anu AilGii ld lDd1 dllt, ldSl-
ly, thy run 10 the other end uf the yard,
caring TWO or three hurdles on their way,
after which performance they are allowed to
put on their own clothes and depart Mr.
Sidney Locock. her Majesfy's Secretary of
Legation, from whose report of this year
these statements are taken by the Times,
believes that the mint has been only twice
entered by foreigners, and states that the
apparent absence of all restrictions with re
gard to touching and handling the coins
points to the probability that it Is not often
open to the public; but he remarks that even
if it were, the manners and customs of the
country are not such as would preclude
mixed assemblage of visitors from going over
it and remaining to the end The quantity
ofsilver being coined daily at the beginning
of this year was $4,000 momme, which at
the rate of % momme to the ichibu, would
give daily total issue of over q 900 bus,
or about $500 The whole of these coins
are produced by the simplest manual labor,
unaided bp a single piece Of machinery"