MINT 483 Denomination of Coin. Standard Weight. Least Current Weight. Standard Fineness. Remedy Allowance. Imperial Weight. Grains. Metric Weight. Grammes. Imperial Weight. Grains. Metric Weight. Grammes. Weight per Piece. Millesimal Fineness. Imperial Grains. Metric Grammes. Gold Five pound 616-37239 246-54895 123-27447 61-63723 436-36363 218-18181 174-54545 87-27272 43-63636 29-09090 21-81818 14-54545 7-27272 145-83333 87-50000 43-75000 39-94028 15-97611 7-98805 3-39402 28-27590 14-13795 11-31036 5-65518 2-82759 1-88506 1-41379 0-94253 0-47126 9-44984 5-66990 2-83495 612-50000 245-00000 122-50000 61-12500 39-68935 15-87574 7-93787 3-96083 ) H fine gold, ,, ( [ alloy; or mille- J f simal fineness ) ) 916-66. ( 1J?, fine silver, A alloy; or millesimal ^ fineness K [ } Mixed metal: ( > copper, tin, and < ) zinc. ( 1-00000 0-40000 0-20000 o-ioooo 1-81818 0-90909 0-72727 0-36363 0-18181 0-12121 0-09090 0-06060 0-03030 2-91666 1-75000 0-87500 0-06479 0-02592 0-01296 0-00648 0-11781 0-05890 0-04712 0-02356 0-01178 0-00785 0-00589 0-00392 0-00196 0-18899 0-11339 0-05669 > 0-002 ) V 0-004 > None. Two pound Sovereign Silver Florin Shilling Bronze Penny Farthing The weight and fineness of the coins specified in this schedule are according to what is provided by the Act 56 Geo. III. c. 68, that the gold coin of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland should hold such weight and fineness as were prescribed in the then existing mint indenture, that is to say, that there should be nine hundred and thirty-four sovereigns and one ten-shilling piece contained in 20 Ib weight troy of standard gold, of the fine ness, at the trial of the same, of 22 carats fine gold and 2 carats of alloy in the pound weight troy, and further, as regards silver coin, that there should be sixty-six shillings in every pound troy of standard silver of the fineness of 11 ounces 2 pennyweights of fine silver and 18 pennyweights of alloy in every pound weight troy. The present standard of fineness for gold, 22 parts fine or pure gold and 2 parts of alloyed metal, was finally adopted in the reign of Charles II., and has remained unchanged up to the present time. Before the passing of the Act determining this standard considerable changes had been made from time to time, the highest degree of fineness having been reached in the reign of Henry III., when the first gold coins were struck of the standard of 24 carats pure gold. The standard of fineness for gold at some different periods may be seen from the following table, which shows the composition of some of the ancient gold trial plates, of which portions are preserved in the Mint : Date. Standard prescribed by Law. Standard found by Assay Remedy or Permitted Variation in Carats and in Thousandths. In Carats and Grains. Decimal Equivalent. 1349 4 carat, or 13 9 1477 23" 3J 994-8 Gold 993-5 i , 5-2 1527 22 916-6 , 915-5 i , 6-9 1543 (?) 23 958-4 , 954-4 4 6-9 1553 23 3J 994-8 , 990-3 4 6-9 1560 22 916-6 , 913-7 4 6-9 1560 23 3J 994-8 , 994-3 4 5-2 1593 22 916-6 , 915-9 4 6-9 1605 23 3J 994-8 , 990-3 4 5-2 1649 22 916-6 , 913-0 4 6-9 1660 23 3J 994-8 , 990-9 4 69 1660 22 916-6 , 912-9 4 6-9 1688 22 916-6 , 914-6 4 6-9 1707 22 916-6 , 917-1 4 6-9 1728 22 916-6 , 916-1 4 6-9 1829 22 916-6 , 915-3 & 2-6 1873 22 916 6 , 916-61 2-0 1873 Supplementary plate. Pure gold. The earliest trial plate of which there is any record was made in the seventeenth year of Edward IV. Before that time it would seem that the coins were compared with others known to be of standard fineness, since among the Cotton MSS. is preserved the account of the trial of the pyx of gold nobles in 1349, when the coins were compared with an ounce of florins of Florence kept in the Treasury as standards. The first gold coins were 24 carats fine or pure gold. Edward III. caused coins to be struck of 23 carats 3 grains fine in 1345, but no trial plate of this standard was made until 1477. Henry VIII. lowered the standard to 22 carats, but caused coins to be struck both of that and the former standards. The greatest debasement of the standard ever reached in England was in 1546, when it sunk as low as 20 carats. It reached a low point in the early part of Edward VI. s reign, but was raised towards the end of it to 22 carats ; and it was still further raised to 23 carats 3^ grains by Elizabeth, who, however, caused gold coins of 22 carats also to be struck. Charles II. on his accession rejected the trial plates of the standard of 22 carats which had been made under the Commonwealth, and caused others to be made of the standard of 23 carats 3 grains. No coins, however, appear to have been struck of this standard. The same monarch afterwards fixed the standard at 22 carats ; and no variation in the legal standard has occurred since that time. The last new trial plates, made in 1873, were alloyed with copper only, in order that they might correspond with the composition of the British gold coins, former plates having been alloyed with silver and copper. At the same time supplementary plates of pure gold and silver were prepared in order that the greatest possible accuracy might be secured. The present standard of fineness of silver for coinage was fixed at a very early period, but has been subject to considerable varia tion since the reign of Edward I. , the first English monarch who debased the silver coinage. In the reign of Henry VIII. it was once reduced as low as 4 ounces of silver to 8 of alloying metal, and Edward VI. reduced it even lower. It was restored by Elizabeth to the original standard. The following table shows the composition of some of the ancient silver trial plates of which portions have been preserved in the Mint : Date. Standard prescribed by Law. Standard found by Assay. Remedy or Permitted Variation in Dwts. and in Thousandths. In ozs. and dwts. Decimal Equivalent. No date. Silver 757 4 1477 ii"i 925-0 9235 2 dwts. 1527 (?) 885-5 1542 9" 6 775-0 , 763-6 3 dwts. (?), or 12-5 1553 11 2 925-0 , 927-0 2 dwts., or 8-4 1560 11 2 925-0 , 930-2 2 ,, 8-4 1600 3 250-0 , 252-0 3 12-5 1601 11 2 925-0 , 925-1 2 8-4 1604 11 2 925-0 , 922-7 2 dwts. 1649 11 2 925-0 , 923-7 2 1660 11 2 925-0 , 924-2 2 dwts., or 8-4 1688 11 2 925-0 , 922-0 2 8-4 1707 11 2 925-0 , 922-0 2 ,, 8-4 1728 11 2 925-0 , 928-9 2 dwts. 1829 11 2 925-0 , 925-0 1 dwt., or 4-2 1873 11 2 925-0 , 924-96 4-0 1873 Supplementary plate. Pure silver. The alloy used for the bronze coinage is composed of 95 per cent, of copper, 4 of tin, and 1 of zinc. The bronze coinage superseded the old copper coinage in 1860, the latter having been in use since the reign of Charles II. The vicissitudes of the copper coinage were even greater than those of the superior coinages, coins for Ireland having been issued at one time of pewter and of other alloys in which scarcely any copper was contained. The annual testing of the standard of gold and silver coins, called the trial of the pyx, from the " pyx " or chest in which the coins to be examined are kept, is a ceremony of very ancient institution. It arose from the circumstance that the mint master was originally a contractor, under the crown, for the manufacture of the coinage, and it was therefore necessary that periodical examinations of the coins should be held in order to ascertain that the terms of his contract had been complied with. At the present day, when the mint master is no longer a contractor, but an officer of the crown, the trial of the pyx has a somewhat different object; but it would appear from the description of these periodical examinations in some of the earliest mint records that but little change has taken place in the manner of conducting them. The finished coins are delivered
to the mint master in weights called "journey weights,"