'A Bill of the prizes [i.e. prices] of such Tools & other things as may be usefull in her Majts Mint in Scotland', with a covering letter to the Treasury
A Bill of the prizes of such Tools & other things as may be usefull in her Majts in Scotland.
From the Office of Receipt
For the Assay Office
A pair of Assay ba | 5. | 00. | 00 | } | |
Assay w | 2. | 00. | 00 | ||
Two Coppel molds | 10. | 00 | |||
Two pair of iron molds to cast two sorts of Assay bullets | 0. | 10. | 00 | 1 | 0 |
Five douzen of Mufflers at 1s 6d a Muffler | 4. | 10. | 00 | ||
0. | 12. | 00 | |||
Charcoal an hundred bushels at | 0 | 0 |
For the Melter
} | } | ||
A sweep mill | 6. 00. 00 | ||
Fifty pounds of Quicksilver at 5s a pound | 12. 10. 00 | ||
Thirty bushels of bone-ashes for tests at 4s a bushel | 6. 00. 00 | ||
} | 0. 03. 00 |
For the Moneyers
For the Graver Engineer & Smith
<15v>Cast Rollers are not to be bought. The man who makes them keep the secret to himself & only lends the Rollers to the moneyers at 10s a day. Hammered rollers are apt to sink & fail & cost 6li a pair {illeg}but are not so serviceable. What is meant by a siseing Mill we are not certain. If it be the Mill for drawing the barrs of gold & silver to a just thickness, such a Mill with three hammered rollers in the late recoynage cost about us 177 pound. The Moneyers have some of those Mills remaining in their hands wch they can afford cheaper. We use no books of Vellum but record or coynage in Leger books of thick derny paper. German steel is scarce to be met with in shops fit for our use. Our Smith tends into Germany for it. It costs from 8d to 12d or 14d according to the goodness & scarcity. And [several other things mentioned in this Bill vary in their prizes according to the sizes & goodness.] Its chief use is for making the Dyes & puncheons & we beleive {sic} it beleive it {sic} {illeg} We belive {sic} it may be best for the moneysafest for the money to have the impresson on the Dyes for both mints takenmade from the same puncheons. For the variety of impressions makes it more difficult to know good money & more difficult to easy to adulterate it.② Besides the things the mentioned in this Bill there should be two indented Trial pieces of crown gold so & two of standard silver sent them, the one for making the money of due allay, the other for examining it before delivery. They will cost the pricevalue of the gold & silver conteined in them wch may be about 40 or 40li ① What theyis meant in ye Inventory by large scratches half wier we do not understand nor to what use they would put the large scratch brushes. {sic}. Our Melter brushes meant his barrs of gold & silver wth brushe {illeg}s made of a substance wch grows upon health grounds These brushes & is very cheap.The Gravers & Moneyers clean their Dyes wth {illeg} small scratch brushes worth about 2s a brush & a dozen of those seem sufficient for them both Offices. And the Gravers & Moneyers clean their Dues with small scratch brushes such as are used by the Graver.{illeg} Besides the things mentioned &c
May it pl. yor Lp
We have co
In obedience to yor Lordps order of the 23d Instant we have considered the Inventory therewith sent us of Tools & other necessaries proposed to be provided in London for the use of her Majts Mint in Scotland & have here subjoyned the prizes in London of such of them as seem to us proper & necessary to be furnished {illeg}for the said Mint, supposing they are not already in that Mint & cannot be had cheaper from other places then from London.
Source
MINT 19/3/15-16, National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UKc. 12 April 1707, c. 1,115 words.