"Report of the Officers of the Mint upon the Inventory of Tools for the Mint in Scotland"
To the Rt Honble the Lord High Treasurer of England.
May it please yor Lordp
In obedience to yor Lops Order of the 3d instant we have considered the annexed Inventory therewith sent us of Tools & other necessaries proposed to be provided in London for the use of her Majties Mint in Scotland, & have here set down the prizes of such of them as seem to us proper & necessary to be furnished for the said Mint, supposing they are not already in that Mint & cannot be had cheaper from other places then from London.
Cast Rollers are not to be bought. The man who makes them keeps the secret to himself & only lends the Rollers to the moneyers at 10s a day. Hammered {illeg}Ro{illeg}lle{illeg}rs cost 6li a pair, but are not so serviceable. What is meant by a sizing 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 recoinage cost 177 pounds. The Moneyers have some of those Mills remaining in their hands wch they can afford cheaper. German steel is scarce to be met with in shops fit for their use. Our Smith sends into Germany for it. It costs from 8d to 12d or 14d pr lwt according to the goodness & scarcity. Its chief use is for making the Dyes & Puncheons, & we conceive it best to have the money of both nations made from the same puncheons. For the variety of impressions makes it more difficult to know good money & more easy to adulterate it. What is meant in the Inventory by large scratches half wier, we do not understand. Besides the things above mentioned there should be two indented Trial pieces of crown gold & two of standard silver one for making the money of due allay the other for examining it before delivery. They will cost the value of the gold & silver conteined in them, & are to be made by a Iury of Goldsmiths with, {sic} four other Trial pieces for England, as we mentioned in or late Report of ye 24th March last.
All wch is most humbly submitted to yor
Lordships great Wisdome.
I Stanley
Is. Newton
In Ellis
<344v><text in Unknown Hand begins>Report of ye Officers of the Mint upon the Inventory of Tools for ye Mint in Scotland.
read {illeg}12th apr: 1707. vide the Minute-Book
Md. The officers have taken out the Scotch Inventor in adv to speak wth Sr D. Nairn upon some expressions therein
Source
T 1/101.91, National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK12 Apr 1707, c. 858 words.