MINT. A place where coins are manufactured, usually with the authority of the State.
According to Herodotus, the first mint was probably that estab lished by Gyges in Lydia towards the end of the 8th century B.C. for the coining of gold, silver and electrum, an alloy of gold and silver. Silver was coined in the island of Aegina soon afterwards. The art of coining was introduced by the Greeks into Italy and other countries bordering on the Mediterranean and into Persia and India. Subsequently the Romans laid the foundations of modern minting. Coining originated independently in China at a later date than in the Western world, and spread from China to Japan and Korea.
In Britain gold and silver were coined before the arrival of the Romans, and after the Norman Conquest the number of mints increased to about 7o, more than now exist in the world. The necessity for so many mints arose from the imperfect means of communication. The coins were occasionally tested at Westmin ster, and if any deficiency in their weight or fineness was found the "moneyers" or minters were punished as traitors. About 118o, officers were appointed to supervise the coinage on behalf of the king and to collect the seigniorage (q.v.), which generally took the form of a deduction from the amount of bullion sent to the mint for coinage. The work was done by contractors at a great profit ; Sir Isaac Newton, for example, amassed a fortune as mas ter of the mint and contractor for the coinage. In 185o the con tract system was abolished and since then the work has been con ducted by civil servants, all profits becoming part of the revenue. The London mint was built in 181o, when the old mint in the Tower of London was closed after being in use for centuries.
In the United States the Philadelphia mint was opened in 1792 and there are other mints at San Francisco and Denver, opened to provide markets for the gold produced near them. In most countries a single mint is found to be sufficient, but there are six in Germany and two in Australia. Many countries do not pos sess a mint, their coinages being executed under contract.
Silver bars, which weigh about i,000 to 1,200 oz. troy each, are usually bought by the mints only when new or additional issues of silver coin are required for circulation or reserve. In the first years after the World War very little new silver was required for coinage in Britain, owing to the widespread melting down of old silver coin for sale and its replacement by base metal coins or by silver of lower standard. The intrinsic value of the silver in coins is usually much less than the nominal or face value at which they pass in circulation in their own country. Thus in Great Britain one ounce of a silver alloy containing so% of silver is converted into 5s.6d. in silver coin, whatever may be the market price of silver bullion (in 1927 this was about 29d. per oz. of fine silver). The difference between the minted and unminted values is re tained by the State to cover the cost of manufacture and as a source of revenue. The system in other countries is similar, but generally with less difference in value between the minted and unminted silver. Thus the United States dollar contains 371.25 grains or 0.77 oz. of fine silver.
Refined gold ingots suitable for minting (the "bar gold" of commerce) are usually about 400 oz. troy in weight. They could be taken to the London mint for coinage without charge previous to 1925, but in that year the right was withdrawn except from the Bank of England. The branch mints in Australia continue to receive unrefined gold from the mines for refining and coinage although at a small charge. In the United States, Canada, India and Japan the mints also receive unrefined gold and refine it.