Catalogue Entry: MINT00453
Reply to MINT00452 (Mint 19/1/181-2)
Contents
Objects to Newton's reference to the London Mint's 'connivance' in allowing the Scots to add copper during melting: the practice is a necessity without which it would be 'next to impossible' to bring out standard silver coin. Detailed account of the different circumstances pertaining in Scotland and why they entail a higher level of wastage. Newton has been maliciously misinformed by the London goldsmiths. Allardes' executors are quibbling about the amount of waste allowed for in the accounts of Scott's late brother [Patrick, deputy master under Allardes]: if they are permitted to disallow as much as they propose, his widow and four children will be plunged into poverty, something Allardes himself would never have allowed to happen.
Related Material
Printed in NC, 5: 394-6.
