THE ROYAL MINT.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2179, 18 February 1881, Page 3

THE ROYAL MINT.

[“ European Mail.”] To bo Master of tho Mint now-a-days is to be Chancellor of tho Exchequer as well. It was not always so; for even in recent times we fi d amongst tho names associated with the office those of Richard Lalor Sheil, and Sir John F. Herachel, the latter of whom spent more time in star-gazing than in watching the formation of those “patines of bright gold” which glitter so gloriously in tho eyes of ordinary mortals. To bo Master of the Mint is a position to which, doubtless, the greatest statesmen of the future will be proud to aspire when they look back to the fact that in the year of grace 1880 the post was filled by the Premier of England, First Lord of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer. During the time of the Franco-Prussian war, when the trade of France and Germany was paralysed, that of this country was stimulated to anextraerdinary extent, and the pressure put upon the Mint for the necessary supply of c iin was such as to call serious attention to

the inadequate provision which the present premises provide for sudden pressure. This consideration induced Government to look favorably upon a scheme embodied in a Bill recently introduced into Parliament for the erection of a new mint on the Thames Embankment upon the site lately occupied by the gas company, between the new City of London School and the Temple. It is said that tho position will be more convenient, and that such accommodation and facilities for coining can be provided os never before existed, but are absolutely indispensable to the requirements of our time. The Bill referred to has been withdrawn, but it is almost certain to bo introduced next session, and almost equally certain to be passed. Some five or six years may elapse before the new mint is erected ; but that the old mint is doomed may be looked upon as a foregone conclusion. Whilst, therefore, the present pile on Tower Hill still continues to fulfil tho functions for which it was designed, it may not be uninteresting to take a glance at its comparatively brief history, and, in company with one of its courteous and well informed officers, to cursorily inspect the operations which are daily performed within its walls. The present building was erected in the year 1806, and was occupied four years later. Previous to that time minting was carried on in the Tower, hard by ; but just about then the trade of this country became so expanded that it was found impassible for the narrow limits of the Tower to furnish the necessary requirements of coin. Hence a new Mint was determined upon, but in such a position that it could be covered and protected by the Tower guns. Possibly such a precaution will be smiled at just now, when a single ironclad with its 80 ton guns could dismantle the ancient fortress in forty minutes ; but even in the days of Waterloo, and later still, when the hero who won that battle was Constable of the Tower, it was consideted that the Mint was perfectly safe when protected by guns. A promenade through the magazine of bul lion is as pleasant an one as oin readily be suggested for a sightseer on a rainy day, and an instructive one on any day. In bars of various dimensions, gold and silver ingots come, prooessionwise, to the Receiving and Delivery office of the Mint, where they are registered, assayed, and the requisite quantity of alloy apportioned. Thence they are sent down to the melting houses, where the furnaoes are red hot with charcoal fire, greedily devouring tho surrounding atmosphere, and are cast* into Morgan’s patent plumbago crucible, which for gold is constructed to hold 1200 ounces, value for about £SOOO, and for silver 6000 ounces. Before tho metal is given to the workmen it is weighed by accurately constructed balances, by which its

weigui/ is agaiu »BuorLauiou bhoc au uan paaacu through the melting poti, so that it is impossible there can be any discrepancy undetected. And here it may be interesting to publish once again the composition of the current coins of the realm. Our bronze piece are made up of 95 parts of copper, 4 1 parts of tin, and 1 part of zinc, so that the present penny need not be held in such intrinsic contempt as it usually is. In a sovereign and half-sovereign there are 22 parts of fine gold and 2 parts copper, whilst our silver coins are composed of 37 parts fine silver and 3 parts copper. The golden, silver, or bronze ore, on being lifted out of the furnace, is poured, sputtering, into moulds, out of which it issues in long bars, which are trimmed of their rough edges by means of circular files worked by steam power. In the case of gold and silver a piece is out from the end of the first and last bar, and ssnt to the assay office to have its purity verified. The bars are then taken to the rolling room, where they are reduced to the thickness requisite for the denomination of coin which they are intended to represent. Bronze fillets have here to be “ pickled,” or blanched in a solution of sulphuric acid, in order to remove the blackness induced by previous processes. Then the different thicknesses are ascertained by a gauge finely graduated in thousandths of ftn inp.h. art f.ha#-. anv HifFflrAnpft id aimnlv

infinitesimal. Sovereign bars require no annealing, but half-sovereign bars, in consequence of their exceedingly slender proportions, are subjected once to that operation. Afterwards the bars are carried into the adjusting room, where the “ Trier an officer who goes by that name—ascertains, by means of cutting out trial “ blanks ” from each fillet, whether they come within the “remedy ” or allowance for over or under weight granted by Act of Parliament. Here the weight is regulated to the 100th part of a grain. After undergoing other test processes the fillets are taken to the cutting-out presses, which punch out two pieces at a blow, and these being sorted and the edges raised at the rate of something like 700 a minute, the next operation is the annealing of the “ blanks ” or discs, so as to soften them to receive the impression of the die. Hence they pass through the drying-room, where the pieces are cleaned and finally dried in hot sawdust, and so on to another room, where the most interesting operation of all takes place—that of stamping the metal and turning it into current coin of the realm. The atmospheric screw coining presses which now perform this office in all the Mints of Europe have superseded the older inventions, inasmuch as they do the work more expeditiously, with loss noise, and with fowtr imperfect pieces, or “ brokages. ” Last scene of all that ends this strange eventful history is the weighing department, where automatic balances of the most exquisitely delicate workmanship distinguish between light, medium, and heavy coins—the first and last being sent back to the melting pot, whilst the medium are passed for public circulation; not, however, before they are tested as to their soundness and freedom from flaw by boys, who strike them on iron tables —an operation which perhaps originated the simile “ the ring of the true metal,” The approved coins are then made up in bags called “ journeys,” and sent to the Mint Head Office, which performs the duty of issue. It will be also interesting to know that, the present Mint is capable of coining £120,000 worth of gold per diem, or £IO,OOO of silver.