Further holograph draft of MINT00503 (Mint 19/2/242-3)
To the Right Honourable the Earl of Oxford & Earl Mortimer, Lord High Treasurer of great Britain.
May it please your Lordship
In obedience to your Lordships Order of Reference signified to me by Mr Taylour in his Letter of Iune 16th Instant, I have perused the Representation from the Lords of the Privy Council of Ireland touching a late Order of Council here for giving currency in that Kingdom by Proclamation to some forreign coins which were omitted in a former Proclamation, a printed copy of which they have sent desiring a clause to be added to the said Order for making such allowance for light pieces as was made in the said Proclamation, & that the Order may comprehend also the forreign coins mentioned in that printed Proclamation because the original thereof under the broad seal was destroyed in the late fire which happened there at the Council Chamber, so that the Clerk of the Council cannot now certify that the printed copy agrees verbatim with the original as the late Act of Parliament requires for the conviction of counterfeiters of those coines. And upon comparing the said Representation with the said late Order of Council & printed Proclamation, I humbly represent that the weight of the single Pistole & Lewis d'or being in the said Proclamation put 4dwt 8gr the weight of the double Pistole & Lewis d'or ought in proportion to be put in a new Proclamation 8dwt 16gr & that of the quadruple Pistole 17dwt 8gr. And the Moyder of Portugal (which as the Merchants bring them hither a little worn weigh one with another 6dwt 21gr; & before wearing may be a quarter of a grain or half a grain heavier) may be put in weight 6dwt 22gr in the same Proclamation & valued at 30s. For in Ireland where an English shilling passes for thirteen pence the Moyder of this weight is worth 29s 11, recconing gold 22 carats fine at 3l 19s 8d per ounce, which is the standard value, or 30s 00d, recconing gold 22 carrats fine at 4li per ounce as is ordinarily done. And 30s is a medium & the nearest round number. And a grain being allowed for wearing, this piece will be current till it weighs but 6dwt 21gr as was stated in the late Order of Council. And after that it will continue to be current by allowing 2d per grain for what it wants of the weight of 6dwt 22gr. For the latter part of the printed Proclamation concerning the allowance for light pieces & concerning the scales & weights for weighing them, I am humbly of opinion should be continued in the next Proclamation.
<234v>
I humbly beg leave to represent further to your Lordship that the weights & values of the silver coins in the printed Proclamation would answer better to one another & to the coins themselves if two pence were taken from the value of the Crusado & twenty grains added to their weight of the Dollars. For the Crustado is recconed in Portugal too be the tenth part of the Moyder in value & the Moyder is worth 30s in Ireland as above & yet the Crusado is valued in the Proclamation at 3s 2d. Its weight before wearing is 11dwt 4gr. In the Proclamation its weight it put 10dwt 20gr, & a Crusado of this weight is worth but 3s in Ireland. Rix Dollars Cross Dollars & other Dollars are in the Proclamation put of the same weight & value with pieces of eight of Mexico & Sevil, Pillar pieces & Lewises. And yet The Dollars are much coarser & heavier then the pieces of eight & Lewises & ought to be 20 grains heavier to be of the same value. Rix Dollars before wearing weighed about 18dwt & 6, 8 or 10 grains & Cross Dollars 18dwt 1gr. Their weight in the Proclamation is 17dwt. That they may be worth 4s 9d (which is their value in the Proclamation) they should weigh 17dwt 20gr.
I am humbly of opinion therefore that the gold coins should be of the weight & fineness expressed in the paper annexed & the silver ones as in the pointed Proclamation unless for the reasons above mentioned it should be thought fit to alter take 2d from the value of the Crusados & adds 18 gr to the weight of the Dollars
All which &c
<325r>these
Source
MINT 19/2/234-5, National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UKJune 1712, c. 1,101 words.