A Sixpenny Shilling

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 171, 10 October 1927, Page 13

A Sixpenny Shilling

New Coins for Old

Shining bright but not really v. h their weight in silver would bo a ’air description of the new British c. ins that are expected to be put into c- - reney shortly. For instead of buying silver bul the Mint is making shillings and florins and the rest out of old melted-down coins, anci the new ones contain but 50 per cent, of silver, compared with the 92i per cent, of the coins made before 1920. Not since 1920 lias the Mint bought any silver bullion, but in 1925—the latest year for which figures are avai1ab1e—43.486.675 ab1e—43.486.675 new Imperial silver coins were issued, excluding Maundy Money and the Currency Note Redemption Account. Assayed for quality the silver alloy goes to be smelted into bars about half* an-inch thick, 2in wide, and Ift Sin in length. It is next rolled, tempered with heat, tested and weighed, and then it is ready to have “blanks ’—coins as yet unstamped—punched upon it. Intricate mechanism seizes them and adjusts their positions, so that in turn they may be dubbed coin of the realm by means of a blow from the machine cf about S tons, imprinting both sides at the rate Of more than 100 a minute. Automatically the new coins are weighed to the 100th of a. grain, and before they drop into tlieir temporary homes of canvas bags they are automatically counted.