Between November 1583 and April 1585, inclusive, the mint coined 6 stone, 13 lb. 10 oz. of gold into lyon nobles, the metal being computed at 16 pounds per stone ; and the coinage of the fineness of 21i carats. From the 4th of November 1592 to the 18th of January 1594, the mint consumed 12 stone, 2 lb. I oz. in a coin age of 41. pieces, which were struck at 35 different times. Within the same period, there were likewise struck in " Thistle nobles," of which we have never seen either a specimen or a figure, five pounds six ounces on the tOth of November, 1593. The quantity of gold daily used on these occasions varied from 19 ounces, to 11 pounds 4 ounces. Manuscript Accounts of the Mint. From 16th December 1602, to 19th July 1606, and from 20th Sep tember 1611, to 14th April 1613, the mint struck 51 stone 1111).9 oz. of gold. Ruddiman's Preface to Ander son's Diplomata,p. 35. If the quantity of 119 stones be actually overrated, it is not inconsistent to believe that the author may have made up his calculations from several portions of successive years, and by combining them, he may have conceived that 119 stone were coined in the space of one year. Gold was rated at a very high price.
On certain occasions, the consumption of silver was very considerable, and it is also probable that the pre ceding computation of the whole during a year of the reign of James VI. at 15,776 pounds of bullion is within the truth. Regarding this also, we find only a few de tached notices preserved. Being rated at too high a value, the statute 1581, ea7z. 107, recals a late coinage which had been struck from 211 stone, 10 lb. of silver, and the mint proceeded to strike 548 stone, in ten, twenty, thirty, and forty shilling pieces, between 7th April, 1582, and 1st February, 1583. From the 1st of May of that year until the 1st of October of the year following, 264 st. 12 lb. of silver was consumed in pieces of the same denomination. No less than 1138 st. 10 lb. seem to have been converted into eight and four-penny groats of three deniers fine, during the first nine months of 1584, and 217 st. 7 lb. into penny and two penny pieces, in the first three months of 1590, though, during the two preceding years, the mint was in great activity. Ruddiman ob serves, that, notwithstanding 596 st. 7 lb. 13 oz. of silver was used in the periods above mentioned, between 1602 and 1612 ; the value of the gold coinage within the same period, surpassed it by 15541. sterling. The quantity of silver consumed by the mint was therefore very con siderable; and we find it employed in a coinage during 1694 and 1695, when both the weight of silver, and the number of pieces struck, were all distinctly enumerated in the books of the counter warden.
For the purpose of supplying the mint, in the 17th century, a duty was imposed, first on exports, and then on imports also, of a certain quantity of bullion, which the trader had it in his option to pay in money, at the rate of a shilling an ounce. Thus the exporter of 20 sheep was taxed with two ounces of bullion, and the importer of French wines, twelve ounces per ton. They did not supply the bullion, however ; but the mint, during most of the reign of Charles II. seems to have coined about 200 stone of silver yearly.
During the same reign, it was authorised to employ 6000 tons of copper in coinage. Many abuses prevailed, and the officers whose province it was to supply both that metal and bullion, converted not less than 40,000 stone to money, obtaining from every pound the value of three shillings Sterling.
At the date of the Union, the old silver currency be ing recalled for the purpose of a new coinage, there came in 142,180/. Sterling of hammered money, and 96,856/. of milled money, which latter must have been executed subsequent to the succession of Charles II. The operations of the mint were suspended on the death of his predecessor, which the commissioners from Scot land represented to Parliament, occasioned an extreme scarcity of money, and it ceased to work a short time subsequent to the union of the kingdoms. (c.) Description of Mr. Barton's .1Vew Machine for equalising the thickness of Slips of Metal for making Coin.
Fig. 1. of Plate CCCXCVII. represents a side eleva tion of the machine, as it would appear when in action, and Fig. 2. a horizontal plan of it. This machine ope rates in the same manner as wire drawing-machines, viz. by drawing the slips of metal forcibly through an oblong opening formed between two surfaces of har dened steel. The box or case which contains the steel dies, and also the pinchers employed to hold the metal and draw it through, are represented on a larger scale in fig. 3, 4, and 5, on the plate. Fig. 3. shews a section
of the die-box, and elevation of the pinchers. The dies are composed of two cylinders, a, b, made of steel ; they are rendered extremely hard and very straight upon their surfaces, being highly polished ; these cylinders are fitted into convex cavities formed in the pieces of metal A, B, and arc retained in their places by clamping pieces c, c pressing against them, by which means the steel cylinders are firmly supported, and prevented from bending during the violent action of the metal while passing between them. The pieces of metal A, B, are fitted into a box C of cast iron, so as to bear flat against the bottom of the same, and are secured by bars, c, e, screwed across the front, as seen in Fig. 5. which re presents a front view of the box containing the dies, the lower piece B rests upon the ends of three screws, d, d, d, which pass through the metal of the box C, whilst the upper piece A is forced down by the action of a large screw D, which has a toothed wheel N upon its upper most end, with a pinion and lever to turn it round by and adjust the distance between the dies ; the screw D is furnished with a clamping nut f, to remove any shake which might remain in the threads of the screw ; the pieces A and B are confined sideways by small screws g, g, pressing against them very forcibly ; h,h represent two extending screws, which are introduced between A and B, to force them asunder, and bring them into firm contact with the ends of the screws D and d, d. d. The box containing the dies is fixed at one end of a long horizontal frame, as seen at C, Fig. I. and strength ened by cast-iron brackets, i, i, Figs. 1. and 2. The frame is furnished with adjusting bearings, k, k, at each end, to support two axes E and F, which have wheels fixed upon them adapted to receive endless chains of metal of the form seen at /, ; which lie in channels formed along the surface of the frame. A large cog wheel G is fixed upon the axis F, to give motion to the endless chains ; this cog-wheel is turned by a pinion H, fixed upon an axis m, extending across the top of the frame, and working in bearings at each end ; a cog wheel I is fixed upon the axis m, and works into the teeth of a pinion K, upon a second axis across the frame, which carries a drum-wheel L, for giving motion to the whole machine by an endless strap. Fig. 3. and 4. represent the pinchers which take hold of the slips of metal and draw them through the dies. The two jaws of the pinchers are united by a joint pin n, which pro jects on each side of the pinchers, and is furnished with small wheels or rollers, o, o, Fig. 4. to run along the edges of the channel formed upon the frame. In order to receive the endless chains, p, fl are two wheels similar to o, o, but are fixed upon an axle which passes through between the tails of the pinchers ; the axle of the wheels p, p is attached to strong links of iron q, q, the ends t of which are formed like a hook to take hold of the rounds of the endless chains so as to draw the pinchers along with it ; the pinchers are situated over the endless chains, and will run backwards or forwards upon their wheels. They arc caused to gripe the slips of metal firmly between their jaws by the axle of the wheels ji,p, acting between two inclined planes formed upon the insides of their tails. The links q, q are fur nished with a weight r, which operates to raise the hooked part t above the links of the endless chains, whenever the strain upon the pinchers ceases by the slip of metal having passed through and out of the dies. The slips of metal to be operated upon by the drawing ma chine are first rendered thinner at one end, in order to introduce them between the dies and between the jaws of the pinchers. This thinning of the ends is effected by the machine represented at Fig. 6. in the plate ; it consists of a small pair of rollers mounted in an iron frame, similar to a rolling,-mill. The upper roller A is cylindrical, whilst II is formed with three flat sides, leav ing only portions of the cylinder entire, between the flat sides, the distance between the centres of the rollers is regulated by screws having wheels on their upper ends in the manner described for the drawing dies C in Fig. 1, 2, Sec. The rollers have pinions upon their axes which cause them to turn round together; they are put in mo tion by an endless strap passing round a drum, upon the axis of which is a pinion working into the teeth of a wheel fixed upon the axis of the lower roller B.