DOCSLIB.ORG

Sir Isaac Newton and the Scottish Recoinage, 1707-10 Atho Murrayll *

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sir Isaac Newton and the Scottish Recoinage, 1707-10 Atho Murrayll * Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 127 (1997), 921-944 Sir Isaac Newton and the Scottish recoinage, 1707-10 Atho MurraylL * ABSTRACT Although post-Unionthe recoinage best-documentedthe is episodehistory Scottishthe the in of mint, carriedwhich in been was there not full it a way out. has studythe Thisof paper discussesthe administration recoinage ofthe with particular reference involvementthe to Isaac ofSir Newton. PREPARATIONS The post-Union recoinage in Scotland has been seen as a postscript to the history of the Scottish coinage s littla r eo 1 more tha footnota n e histore Englisth th n f i eyo h mint, under whose supervisio carries wa t ndocumentatioi e d th out. t Ye 2 n availabl botn ei h Scottis Englisd han h sources far exceeds that for any of the earlier Scottish coinages. One main source is the papers of Sir Isaac Newton as Master of the Mint in the Tower of London. These reveal not only the keen interest that he took in the practical and technical problems arising from the recoinage but also the friendly relations that developed between him and the officers of the Edinburgh mint. The recoinage was undertaken in fulfilment of Article 16 of the Treaty of Union: 'That from and after the Union, the coin shall be the same standard and value throughout the United Kingdom, as now in England.' This English proposal for a common currency had been accepted Scottisbe yth h commissioners subjecconditions.o tw o t firste 3Th , continuatio Edinburge th f no h mint, was incorporated into Article 16. The second, that consideration be given to any losses suffered by private persons through reducing the coin to the same standard as England, was covered by Article 15 which made such losses a charge upon the Equivalent, the sum payable to Scotland for assuming shared liability for the English national debt. Since 1603 there had been some co-ordination of the work of the Tower and Edinburgh mints. Unde Charled an rI Jame I s bot& produced I hha sV similada r gold coin 'unit'e th , , current for £1 sterling or £12 scots, and the value of silver coins had followed the same ratio of 1:12. Nevertheless the Edinburgh mint was wholly independent, its privileges confirmed by Charles II in 16684 and James VII in 1687.5 Apart from the Frenchman, Nicolas Briot, appointed MasteScottise th f o r h min 1635n i t persoo n , held nha d offic botn i e h mints. Bot thred hha e senior officials appointed by the crown: Master, Warden and Counterwarden (Comptroller in the Tower mint).6 There were some differences in the functions, though in both cases each official was suppose provido dt othe e checa th rn k o two. 7 The General, who had no English counterpart, was titular head of the Scottish mint, guardian of its privileges and ex officio judge of its Court of Wardenry. In 1707 the General was John Maitland Earh f 5t Lauderdale, o l , appointe officn 169n i da o 9et fathes helhi d y dran b * 33 Inverleith Gardens, Edinburgh EH3 5PR 922 | SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1997 grandfather between 1660 and 1688. The Master, George Allardyce of that Ilk,8 appointed in 1704 whils membea t lase th t f Scottiso r h parliament responsibls wa , maintaininr efo mine gth t buildings and carrying on the coinage. In addition to his salary he received a statutory allowance proportiona weighe th o monef lt o t defrayo t coined workmen'whicd e f o yth ha t e hh ou , s wages and other necessary expenditure. The Warden, William Drummond, a son of the Laird of Blair Drummond, and Counterwarden, Walter Boswell of Balberton, had held office since 1705 and 1691 respectively Towee th n i rsenioe s minth A . l rtal officials were allowe appoino dt t deputieo st carr t theiyou r functions. Durin recoinage gth e Patrick Scott Writea Signete , th o t r , actes da Allardyce's deputy from 1704; Drummond and Boswell carried out their duties in person. Three officials held posts requiring technical skills. Prior to appointment as Assaymaster in 1697 John Borthwic held same kha dth eIncorporatioe posth n i t Goldsmithf no Edinburghf so . James Clerk, engraver since 1686, shared the office with his nephew Joseph Cave from 1706 until his deat 1718n hi . From 169 alse 8h o hel separate dth e offic Letteref o e Grained edgere an th f sro of the coin, having previously assisted the smith in this work. The smith, William Brown, owed his appointment in 1703 to the refusal of his predecessor to accept a new commission from Queen Anne 'in regaird it did not contain the priviledge of lettering and edgeing of the money'. The establishmen completes Collectoe wa tclerk o th d tw y san Bullionf d b ro pose King'f Th .o t r s(o 9 Queen's) Clerk had been created by the Coinage Act of 1686, under which he kept records of the bullion delivered int min e alss coinedd oth oan wa t Coure Clere th H . f Wardenryf ko o t e Th . BullioClere th f ko n pre-date 168e d th dutie s 6 hi Act t s ,bu wer keepins a e t re-defineAc ge th y db record 'bullioe th f so n money dutr o 'import n yo s collecte t Scottisda h port supporo st mine th t t coinaged an 169n I .offic e 9 th Collectof o e Bullionf ro , previousl yWardene helth y db beed ha , n conferre outsidern a n do , Daniel Stewart, brothe Williar Si f ro m Stewar Castlemilkf to . Unlike the salaried officials, there was 'no allowance for maintainance of melters or labourers in this Mint otherways than when they are supplied with work', A list of 1707 0 enumerates 37 'persons belonging to the Mint at Edinburgh': James Shields, founde1 r and melter, and seven others in the melting house, Walter Broun millman, three cutters, eight adjusters, Alexander Hodge 'neeler and blender', seven in the 'printing office', six smiths and file cutters and five wrights.11 The costs of recoinage were to be defrayed from the bullion duty but, as already noted, ther separats ewa e provisio compensato nt e private individuals. Scottis foreigd han n coins were meltee b o t d recoinagee dowth r nfo t thosbu , e handing the mwouln i compensatee db e th r dfo difference between their nomina bulliod an l n value. English milled silver coins issued since eth English recoinage would remain in circulation but at the same value as in England. Since 1686 the exchange rate between Scottish and English coins had fluctuated, partly in response to economic condition d partlan s y becaus f speculationo e , especially durin e Englisth g h recoinageA . proclamation of 1697 made the English crown current for 65s scots with other silver coins in proportion.12 This gave a ratio between Scots and English money of 13:1 instead of 12:1 which would apply after the Union. A proclamation of 28 March 1707, implementing proposals of a parliamentary committee13 provided that those who produced English coins before commis- sioners in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen on 17 April would receive certificates entitling them to claim compensation from the commissioners of the Equivalent at the rate of 5s scots per crown. The Bank of Scotland was prohibited from receiving English money between 7 and 17 April and was compensated in respect of the coin that it held.14 Newto colleagues hi d nan s could experience drath n wEnglise o th f eo h recoinage whicr ,fo h five subordinate 'country mints' had been set up in provincial cities. There was, however, a 5 difference between such temporary, subordinate mints and Edinburgh 1 with its long independent MURRAY: NEWTON AND THE SCOTTISH RECOINAGE | 923 existence. Preparations for the recoinage began on 18 March 1707, when the English Lord High Treasurer, Lord Godolphin, requeste e officerTowee dth th f o rs min reporo t t whan s o t wa t required. Reporting on 24 March they recommended the following: 1 A new set of Troy weights should be made for each mint. triaw l Ne plate2 gol f silvesd o dan r shoul madee db . 3 The money coined in both mints should be the same, with some letter or other mark set on coins struc Edinburgn ki h latels 'aswa y practise countre th n di y mints'. 4 A copy of the rules for coinage in the indenture between the Queen and Newton, as Master of the Mint should be sent to the Scottish mint. 5 The Scottish officers might send 'any of the mint' to learn the practice of the Tower mint and if they wished an officer of the English mint might be sent to Scotland to see the rules put into execution. 6 Any 'engines or other things necessary' could be supplied by the Tower mint.16 sense firssecone d on eth n an tI d recommendations were nothin gTowee newth s a ,r mint had supplied weights and trial plates to Edinburgh since the Restoration.17 The difference was that henceforward Edinburgh was to use Troy weights, instead of Scots weights. The trial 8 plates e Scottis, th hel y d Englisb dan h h treasuries, official f eaco se Londo hth mind nan t 1 Goldsmiths Company, represente standare dth finenesf do s against whic coinw hne s were tested before delivery and at the trial of the pyx.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Cochran-Patrick, RW, Notes on the Scottish
    PROCEEDINGS of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Our full archive of freely accessible articles covering Scottish archaeology and history is available at http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/psas/volumes.cfm National Museums Scotland Chambers Street, Edinburgh www.socantscot.org Charity No SC 010440 5 SCOTTISE NOTE22 TH N SO H MINTS. IV. E SCOTTISNOTETH N SO H MINTS. WR . Y COCHRAB . N PATRICK, ESQ., B.A., LL.B., F.S.A. SCOT. Any account which can now be given of the ancient Scottish mints must necessarily he very incomplete. The early records and registers are no longe scantw fe existencen ri ye th notice d an , s gatheree which n hca d fro Acte m th Parliamentf so othed an , r original sources, only serv shoo et w how imperfect our knowledge is. It may not, however, he altogether without interest to hring together something of what is still available, in the hope that other sources of information may yet be discovered. The history of the Scottish mints may be conveniently divided into two periods,—the first extendinge fro th earliese f mo th d ten timee th o st thirteenth century; the second beginning with the fourteenth century, and coming down to the close of the Scottish coinage at the Union. It must he remembered that there is little or no historical evidence availabl firse th tr perioefo d beyond wha s afforde i tcoine th y s b dthem - selvesconclusiony An . scome whicb regardino y et hma o t musgt i e b t a certain extent conjectures e liablmodified authentiy h ,an an o t e y b d c information whic stily e discoveredb lhma t I present.
    [Show full text]
  • Royal Mint Trading Fund Annual Report | 2011-12
    Royal Mint Trading Fund Annual Report | 2011-12 Making Money for Everyone Royal Mint Trading Fund Annual Report and Accounts 2011-12 Presented to the Parliament pursuant to section 4(6) of the Government Trading Funds Act 1973 as amended by the Government Trading Act 1990 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 5 July 2012 HC 264 | London: The Stationery Office | £ 21.25 © Crown copyright 2012 You may re-use this information (excluding logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or e-mail: [email protected]. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at the Office of Public Sector Information, Information Policy Team, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU or email: [email protected]. This publication is available for download at www.official-documents.gov.uk. This document is also available from our website at www.royalmint.com. ISBN: 9780102976519 Printed in the UK for The Stationery Office Limited on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office ID 2486320 06/12 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum. Annual Report and Accounts 2011-12 The Royal Mint Trading Fund Royal Mint Trading Fund Accounting Officer is Jeremy Pocklington The Royal Mint Limited Directors The Royal Mint Museum
    [Show full text]
  • Gladstone and the Bank of England: a Study in Mid-Victorian Finance, 1833-1866
    GLADSTONE AND THE BANK OF ENGLAND: A STUDY IN MID-VICTORIAN FINANCE, 1833-1866 Patricia Caernarv en-Smith, B.A. Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2007 APPROVED: Denis Paz, Major Professor Adrian Lewis, Committee Member and Chair of the Department of History Laura Stern, Committee Member Sandra L. Terrell, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Caernarven-Smith, Patricia. Gladstone and the Bank of England: A Study in Mid- Victorian Finance, 1833-1866. Master of Arts (History), May 2007, 378 pp., 11 tables, bibliography, 275 titles. The topic of this thesis is the confrontations between William Gladstone and the Bank of England. These confrontations have remained a mystery to authors who noted them, but have generally been ignored by others. This thesis demonstrates that Gladstone’s measures taken against the Bank were reasonable, intelligent, and important for the development of nineteenth-century British government finance. To accomplish this task, this thesis refutes the opinions of three twentieth-century authors who have claimed that many of Gladstone’s measures, as well as his reading, were irrational, ridiculous, and impolitic. My primary sources include the Gladstone Diaries, with special attention to a little-used source, Volume 14, the indexes to the Diaries. The day-to-day Diaries and the indexes show how much Gladstone read about financial matters, and suggest that his actions were based to a large extent upon his reading. In addition, I have used Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates and nineteenth-century periodicals and books on banking and finance to understand the political and economic debates of the time.
    [Show full text]
  • Salvum Fac, and from Their Neatness and Extreme Rarity, Possibly As Patterns
    This is a reproduction of a book from the McGill University Library collection. Title: A view of the coinage of Scotland : with copious tables, lists, descriptions, and extracts from acts of Parliament : and an account of numerous hoards or parcels of coins discovered in Scotland : and of Scottish coins found in Ireland : illustrated with upwards of 350 engravings of Scottish coins, a large number of them unpublished Author: Lindsay, John, 1789-1870 Publisher, year: Cork : Printed by Messrs. Bolster; sold, also, by Black, Edinburgh [etc.], 1845 The pages were digitized as they were. The original book may have contained pages with poor print. Marks, notations, and other marginalia present in the original volume may also appear. For wider or heavier books, a slight curvature to the text on the inside of pages may be noticeable. ISBN of reproduction: 978-1-926748-98-6 This reproduction is intended for personal use only, and may not be reproduced, re-published, or re-distributed commercially. For further information on permission regarding the use of this reproduction contact McGill University Library. McGill University Library www.mcgill.ca/library A VIEW OF THE COINAGE OF SCOTLAND, WITH COPIOUS TABLES, LISTS, DESCRIPTIONS, AND EXTRACTS FROM ACTS OF PARLIAMENT ; AND AN ACCOUNT OF NUMEROUS HOARDS OR PARCELS OF COINS DISCOVERED IN SCOTLAND, AND OF SCOTTISH COINS FOtJND IN IRELAND. ILLUSTRATED WITH UPWARDS OF 350 ENGRAVINGS OF SCOTTISH COINS, A LARGE NUMBER OF THEM UNPUBLISHED. BY JOHN LINDSAY, ESQ., BARRISTER AT LAW. Member of the British Archceological Association, Member of the Irish Archaeological Society, Corresponding Member of the Syro Egyptian Society of London, and Author of "A View of the Coinage of Ireland,*7 and of " A View of the Coinage of the Heptarchy." CORK: PRINTED BY MESSRS.
    [Show full text]
  • Grace Notes Newsletter of the Memphis Scottish Society, Inc
    GRACE NOTES Newsletter of the Memphis Scottish Society, Inc. Vol. 35 No. 3 • March 2019 President’s Letter From President John Schultz: The board has decided to have next year’s Burns Nicht at Woodland Hills on Burns’s birthday, January 25, 2020. The finan- cial results of the last few Burns Nichts has taken a toll on the Memphis Scottish Society’s finances. There appears to be enough Memphis in the treasury to allow one more try. Today social media is a Scottish great way to get the word out, but the Memphis Scottish Society’s web site (memphisscots.com) and Facebook page only reach people Society, Inc. looking for it. The key is for members on Facebook to share the Buns Nicht post when it becomes available. If you have connec- Board tions to traditional media let the Board know so those avenues can also be explored. President John Schultz 901-754-2419 [email protected] Vice President Sammy Rich 901-496-2193 [email protected] April 6th Is Tartan Day! Treasurer Debbie Sellmansberger National Tartan Day comes but once a year, so let’s have some 901-465-4739 fun with it. The Irish have had their St. Patrick’s Day, and now [email protected] it’s time for the Scots to have ourr day. Let’s all dress out and Secretary show off your tartan with pride! Just don’t walk over a sidewalk Mary Clausi grate like I accidentally did a few years ago (the cops roared with laughter!). 901-831-3844 [email protected] Members at Large Marcia Hayes 901-871-7565 [email protected] Kathy Schultz 901-754-2419 [email protected] March Meeting Program: Holly Staggs Presented by Sammy Rich and Friends 901-215-4839 [email protected] “The Kelpies” See page 2 for further information Tennessee Tartan.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report of the Director of the Mint
    - S. Luriºus vsº ANNUAL REPORT Of the Director of the N/int for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1970. ANNUAL REPORT of the Director of the Mint for the fiscal year ended June 30 1970 DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY DOCUMENT NO. 3253 Director of the Mint U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1971 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $1 (paper cover) Stock Number 4805–0009 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, BUREAU OF THE MINT, Washington, D.C., April 29, 1971. SIR: I have the honor to submit the Ninety-eighth Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, since the Mint became a Bureau within the Department of the Treasury in 1873. Annual reports of Mint activities have been made to the Secretary of the Treasury since 1835, pursuant to the act of March 3, 1835 (4 Stat. 774). Annual reports of the Mint have been made since it was established in 1792. This report is submitted in compliance with Section 345 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, 2d Edition (1878), 31 U.S.C. 253. It includes a review of the operations of the mints, assay offices, and the bullion depositories for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1970. Also contained in this edition are reports for the calendar year 1969 on U.S. gold, silver, and coinage metal production and the world's monetary stocks of gold, silver, and coins. MARY BROOKs, Director of the Mint. Hon. JoHN B. Con NALLY, Secretary of the Treasury.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gold Metallurgy of Isaac Newton
    The Gold Metallurgy of Isaac Newton E. G. V. Newman The Royal Mint, London The science of metals had always appealed to Isaac Newton and when, after the conclusion of his remarkable contributions to mathe- matics and physics, he was invited to take charge of the Royal Mint in London he was able not only to display his great gifts as an administrator but also to exercise his interest in metals and alloys and particularly in the metallurgy of gold. For over thirty years Isaac Newton lived the been accorded him for his scientific work despite the secluded life of a scholar. As undergraduate and later endeavours of his friends Samuel Pepys, John Locke Fellow and Professor at Cambridge he was shy and and Christopher Wren to secure for him a public post reserved, careless of his appearance and even more worthy of his stature. He returned to Cambridge and careless of his eating habits. This period came to a there busied himself with experimental work in triumphant conclusion, of course, with the publication chemistry and metallurgy. of the Principia in 1687. It was not until 1696 that an easement came about For a further period of thirty years, apparently by in the form of an appointment that was to effect a an astonishing transformation, Newton served his complete change in his way of life and his financial country as a highly able public official and also as the welfare. This came through the good offices of an leader of the scientific community. The achievements old friend from his undergraduate days at Trinity and the glory of the former period have not un- College whom he had re-encountered as a fellow naturally overshadowed the latter half of his working Member of Parliament, Charles Montagu.
    [Show full text]
  • Histor Y at the Tower
    History at the Tower Your short guide to the history of the Tower of London. Contents Visiting the Tower............................................... Page 2 Brief history of the Tower............................. Page 3 What to see............................................................ Page 5 Frequently asked questions.......................... Page 8 Page 1 Visiting the Tower Unlike most heritage sites, the Tower of London spans almost 1000 years of history, and has been the host of some of the nation’s most significant events. Because of this we would recommend that you plan your trip in advance, using the preliminary visit voucher where possible to ensure your familiarity with the Tower. The following information is a quick guide, broken into several sections: • Brief history of the Tower • What to see • Frequently asked questions about the Tower Please note that some teachers’ notes have also been prepared and can be downloaded from our website. Go to www.hrp.org.uk, navigate to Learning and then select Resources from the Related Links column. Page 2 Brief History of the Tower Roman origins The Tower was built on the south-eastern corner of the wall that the Romans built around Londinium circa AD 200. Parts of this wall are still visible within the Tower site. William the Conqueror After the successful Norman invasion, William the Conqueror set about consolidating his new capital by building three fortifications. The strongest of the three was the Tower, which controlled and protected the eastern entry to the City from the river, as well as serving as a palace. Work on the White Tower began in 1078 and probably took twenty-five years to complete.
    [Show full text]
  • Architecture & Finance
    bulletin Architecture & Finance 2019/20 eabh (The European Association for Banking and Financial History e.V.) Image: Bank of Canada and Museum entrance. 29 Sept 2017. Photo: doublespace UNITED KINGDOM Locations of the Royal Mint Kevin Clancy he Royal Mint has a history of over 1000 years and through that time T has had three principal homes: The Tower of London, Tower Hill and Llantrisant. But its locations and the locations where coins in Britain have been made are not nec- essarily the same. For many hundreds of years, the coins used by the peoples of Brit- ain were produced by a myriad of manu- facturers scattered throughout the country operating under licence from the monarch. In the late Anglo-Saxon period, during the reign of Ethelred II (978-1016), coins were being made in upwards of 70 towns and, even after London became more dominant from the fifteenth century, there remained regional centres of minting. Coins issued forth from ecclesiastical bases, like Can- terbury and Durham, and commercially or strategically significant towns, like Calais, retained the right to issue money on behalf of the English crown.1 What a mint looks like and the type of A plan drawn up by William Allingham in 1707 shows the Mint occupying the whole area between the buildings it occupies are closely aligned to inner and outer walls of the Tower of London on the three sides not bounded by the Thames the technology of the age governing the ways in which coins have been made. In Anglo- Saxon and early medieval times, a mint was probably not a great deal more than a few men armed with a furnace and an assort- ment of tools for cutting, weighing, assay- ing and striking small flat discs of metal.
    [Show full text]
  • Arise Sir Isaac! Newton's London Career
    26 February 2020 Arise Sir Isaac! Newton’s London Career Dr Patricia Fara This lecture is based on Patricia Fara’s forthcoming book, to be published by Oxford University Press in 2021. The Indian Emperor. Or the Conquest of Mexico. As performed in the year 1731 in Mr Conduitt’s, Master of the Mint, before the Duke of Cumberland &c. Act 4, Scene 4 by William Hogarth (1731-2) Isaac Newton is celebrated throughout the world as a great scientific genius who conceived the theory of gravity and revolutionized optical science. But in his early fifties, he abandoned his life as a reclusive scholar at Cambridge to spend three decades in London, a long period of metropolitan activity that is often overlooked. Enmeshed in Enlightenment politics and social affairs, Newton engaged in the linked spheres of early science and imperialist capitalism. Instead of the quiet cloisters and dark libraries of Cambridge’s all-male world, he now moved in fashionable London society, which was characterised by patronage relationships, sexual intrigues and ruthless ambition. An eminent Enlightenment figure who had twice served as an MP, Newton liaised with international visitors and mingled among elite circles of the Hanoverian aristocracy. Knighted by Queen Anne, and a close ally of the influential Earl of Halifax, Newton occupied a powerful position as President of London’s Royal Society. He also became Master of the Mint, responsible for the nation’s money at a time of financial crisis and himself making and losing small fortunes on the stock market. A major investor in the East India Company, Newton benefited from the global trading networks that relied on selling African captives to wealthy plantation owners in the Americas and was responsible for monitoring the import of African gold to be melted down for English guineas.
    [Show full text]
  • The 1787 Shilling - a Transition in Minting Technique H.E
    THE 1787 SHILLING - A TRANSITION IN MINTING TECHNIQUE H.E. MANVILLE AND P.P. GASPAR '1787. In this year a feeble attempt was made to supply the want of Silver Money by a coinage of that metal. But it appears as if the directors of Mint affairs had exhausted all their powers in the restoration of the Gold Coins, for after an issue of about seventy or eighty thousand Pounds, in Shillings and Sixpences, the coinage of Silver was stopped.'1 'In the year 1787 the Bank coined £55,280 in New Silver, not with any intention of issuing it in gen- eral to the Publick, but only in small quantities to their Customers at Christmastime.'2 Introduction THE first statement , from Rogers Ruding's Annals (1817), represents a general impression held by numismatists: That the coinage of shillings and sixpences in 1787 was a feeble and short-lived attempt by the Government to begin to relieve the severe shortage of silver coins. The second quo- tation presents the true picture: That the coins were a private striking for the Bank of England, not intended for general circulation. This was a time of change in the techniques employed by the Mint for the manufacture of dies. The long-established use of individual letter punches to apply the inscription to each die was slow and inefficient, but could only be phased out when fully lettered punches became available. This required the raising of punches from fully lettered matrices. For a time of transition within the Mint, the study of one issue may fill in gaps in the available records.
    [Show full text]
  • Short Articles and Notes
    SHORT ARTICLES AND NOTES A TR EM IS SIS OF JUSTIN II FOUND AT SOUTHWOLD, SUFFOLK DAVID SORENSON A GOLD tremissis of Justin II (565-78), which in March 1984 passed through the hands of a Cam- bridge coin dealer, is said to have been found by a metal-detector user on what was claimed to be a 'Saxon site near Southwold'. The coin appears to be a tremissis of Constantinople similar to Dumbarton Oaks catalogue nos. 13-141 and two 2 Of the twenty Byzantine coins or close derivatives specimens in the Bibliotheque Nationale. The of the sixth and seventh centuries found in England legends on the coin read: and listed by Rigold,3 one is a tremissis of Justin II Obv. ///I VST I NVSPPAV1 found at Canterbury and one is a solidus of Justin I Rev. VI//////AVGVSTORV1 and in ex. COHOB or II found at Richborough. The majority of coins of this period in this country are barbarous imita- It weighs 1.49 g and has a die axis of 180°. tions of imperial coins, many of them Merovingian. 1 A. R. Bellinger, Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins 3 S. E. Rigold, 'The Sutton-Hoo coins in the light of in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection 1 (Washington, 1966), the contemporary background of coinage in England', in p. 202, nos. 13-14. The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial 1, edited by R. L. S. Bruce- 2 C. Morrisson, Catalogue des monnaies byzantines de laMitfor d (London, 1975), pp. 653-77, at 665. Bibliotheque Nationale 1 (Paris, 1970), p.
    [Show full text]