MINT, is a word used to denote the place where th.: king's money is coined. In our article Convixc MA CHINERY, we have already given some account of the English mint, and of the old as well as the new ma chinery used for the purposes of coinage. We shall, therefore, confine our attention at present to a short no tice respecting the mints of England and Scotland, and conclude the article with an account of Mr. Barton's new machine for equalizing the thickness of slips of metals, which has been introduced into the mint since our arti cle on COINING MACHINERY was published.
.English Mint.
The early history of the English mint is involved in much obscurity. At a very early period, mints and exchanges were established in various parts of England. In A. D. 928„Aithelstane established rules for the regu lation of the mints. He enacted, that only one kind of coin should be current, and he granted to different towns a number of moneyers, in proportion to their size, and one moneyer to all burghs of inferior note. When any alteration took place upon the coins, the dies were issued to these mints, for which a regular fee was paid by the rnoneyers, besides their annual rent.
In the 18th year of Edward II. a considerable change took place. He appointed a master, warden, comptrol ler, king's and master's assay master, and king's clerk, with several inferior officers, and this constitution con tinued with but few changes till the year 1815.
In 1798 a committee was appointed to consider the establishment and constitution of his Majesty's mint, and the result of this appointment was the erection of a new mint, with highly improved machinery, between 1805 and 1810.
In 1814 Mr. Wellesley Pole was appointed master of the mint, and drew up a report relative to its constitu tion, which was mil oduced in Alarch 1815. The 1o: lowing is a list of the principal fficers.
1. Deputy master and warden. 9. Chief engineer.
2. King's assayer. 10 Weigher and teller.
3 Comptroller. 11. Surveyor of melting's.
4. Superintendant of machin. 12. Do. of the motley presses. ery and clef k of the irons. 13. Probationer assay er.
5. King's clerk and clerk of 14. Master's second clerk.
the papers. 15. Assistant engra% cr.
6. Master's assayer 16. Mint or bullion porter.
7. Master's first clerk & melter. 17. %rarden of the mint.
8. Provost and company of mo- 18. Stamper of money weights. neyers. 19. Solicitor of the mint, sx Our limits will not permit us to enter into any t:etail respecting the duties of these various officers and the regulations to which they are subject ,--details, indeed, which cant ot be supposed to possess a higher interest than those which relate to any other great manufactory. Our readers, however, will find the fullest information on this, and all other subjects connected with the mint, in the Rel. Roger Rudslin,;'s Annals of the Coinage of
Great Britain and its Dependencies, in 5 vols. 4to.
Scottish Mint.
The early history of the Scottish mint is vary ob scure. It consisted probably of very simple apparatus, and few materials, which were kept in the immediate vicinity of the king. The royal prerogative of coinage does not seem to have been ever delegated to subjects in Scotland, and it is explicitly declat ed to be vested in the king, who, according to a statute 1424, cap. 24 is to cause new money to be struck when he consioela it suitable and profitable for the realm. Various places of coinage appear on the earlier coins, but the principal mint was certainly at Edinburgh, at least front the time that his city became usually the royal residence, and it continued there until the union cf the kingdoms. The other mints. if such they can be called, were at St. An drew's, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen, Stilling, Dunbarton, Linlithgow, Berwick, Roxburgh, and Annan. The mint of Perth or Dundee was worked before the accession of James VI. It is not explained whether gold was struck elsewhere than in Edinburgh ; and the name of the place of the mintage bitlon, or copper washed with sil ver, first introduced in the reign of James II between 1436 and 1460, is rarely seen upon it : Cardonnel Aumismata Scotia, p 147. Anciently the mint is denomi nated the cunyie house or coining house, and its appa ratus, the irons. Therefore, when the reformers in 1559 took possession of the mint, they considered themst Ives as effectually interrupting its operations, hy carrying off the coining irons ; and, in a royal proclamation, it is declared, they have taken, and yet withhold the irons of our cunyie house, which is one of the chief points that concerneth our crown." Ktith's History, p. 94. Knox's History of the Church, p. 301, 3e2 Tney de fended their proceedings, because the government were impoverishing the country. by a quantity of base money, called hardheads. The same simplicity of ap paratus was continued with little deviation until the reign of Charles II. when the coining press was intro duced into the Scottish mint ; but if the nature of the products be considered, it seems not unlikely that some better mechanical method than merely hammering coins or medals must have been adopted. On the event of the union, Queen Anne issued a warrant in 1707, direct ing that the officers of the mint should be instructed in the plan pursued by the English mint, and soon after the whole currency was recalled by proclamation, to be rccoined.