78-9)

Author: Isaac Newton

Source: MINT 19/2/602-3, National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK

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- Revision History
  - 1 January 2001
    - Catalogue information compiled by Rob Iliffe, Peter Spargo & John Young
  - 29 September 2011
    - Catalogue exported to teiHeader by Michael Hawkins
  - 29 January 2017
    - Transcribed by Will Scott
  - 3 March 2017
    - Metadata amended by Will Scott
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<602r>

Proposals for pre{illeg}|s|e{illeg}|r|ving & encreasing the Coyn of this Kingdome

All gold & silver designed for exportation shall be examined & entred in y^e Mint. And for that end all Ingots of Gold & Silver imported & all old Plated |i|ex|m|ported & designed for exportation & all sand gold & virgin gold & virgin silver shall upon its first coming up the River of Thames to the Custome house be brought to the Mint by the Master of the ship & other witnesses who shall there shew their Bill of lading & be examined about the importation of the said Gold or Silver. And the said sand gold & Virgin gold & virgin silver & plate & all forreign monies designed for exportation shall be there melted into Ingots. And these Ingots & all other Ingots of gold & silver above mentioned shall at the choise of the Merchant be either coyned into moneis or marked {illeg}|w|^th a stamp provided for that purpose. And the Master of the Mint if desired shall give the Merchant an indented Ticket certifying the weight of the monies coyned out of the said forreign gold or silver & the time of c|t|he coynage thereof, w^ch Ticket shall be cut out of a book of y^e Mint & entred in the same book.

Ingots not markt with the Mint stamp may not be exported nor carried on board any vessel, nor bought or sold but may be brought to y^e Mint for encreasing the coyn of this kingdom. This law now obtaning in France by an edict of last March for preventing the melting down of y^e monies

The Merchant upon delivering the Mint Tickets at y^e Custome house may within a year after the coynage of the monies mentioned therein by Warrant of the Comm^rs of the Customes, upon a day appointed in the Warrant ship for exportation the said monies or the same weight of the native monies or any part thereof & also any Ingots w^ch have the Mint stamp upon them & the Customer shall enter the same & file the Tickets.

All silver monies {illeg}|b|efore \shipping for/ exportation shall pay {illeg}|1|^d ob ꝑ ounce Troy at y^e Custome house for the charges of assaying standarding <602v> melting & coyning the same. And all gold monies shall pay 6^d{ $\frac{1}{2}$ } ob ꝑ ounce for y^e like charge. Which Duties shall be kept apart w^th y^e Duty already granted for encouragemt|e|nt of {a}|c|oynage & therewith paid into the Excheq^r & thence imprest to y^e Master of the Mint for y^e same uses. And all Ingots stampt shall pay to the Master of y^e Mint before stamping a farting {sic} per ounce of silver & 1^d per ounce of gold for defraying charges of the first meltings & stamping & towards y^e charges of assaying melting & coyning the monies & of providing & repairing things ne{illeg}|c|essary for y^e same. For w^ch Duty the Master of the Mint shall be answerable to y^e King.

No gold or silver other then pocket money already allowed shall be exported out of any other port of England then that of London nor our|t| of Ireland except into England.

Felony w^thout benefit of Clergy to counterfeit the Mint stamp or the Mint Tickets. And other penalties on them who ship silver {illeg}|n|ot licensed or w^thout paying the Duty or upon any other day then that appointed in the Warrant or buy or sell unmarkt ingots or knowingly bring gold or silver to the Mint to be markt or coynd as forreign w^ch is not forreign.

Such a Law would enable the Officers of the Mint to understand the state of the money with respect to trade. It would render trade freer then at p^rsent. It would save the Merchant the trouble and charge of attending with his bullion & witnesses at Goldsmiths Hall and Yeild hall after he has melted it at the Refiners or Goldsmiths. It would check the melting down of o^r {illeg}|m|onies for exportation or for sale to Goldsmiths much better then the laws do at p^rsent, & prevent the open or publick importation of go more gold & silver then is imported{.} It would bring down the price of Bullion {illeg}|n|earer to a par with money & thereby make the money less liable to be melted down into Bullion. I would increase the coynage by bringing all gold & silver through the Mint & laying on that w^ch is not coyned a small Duty to pay for the first meltings: for w^ch Duty there is a precedent in Holland. It would decrease the Indian manufacture of coyning o^r Bullion in {illeg} Ports where the Company have not a Mint of their own, for which coynage the Indians receive of us a large seigniorage. It would be profitable to the Merchant by the use of his gold & silver when turned into money before exportation. I would encrease o^r coyn as well by the Merchants money running amongst {illeg}|us| till exportation as by what is not exported within the year. It would be of great credit to the nation by the Merchants exporting their gold & silver <603r> in the form of English money t{illeg}|o| be current in forreign nations & thereby make us appear abroad more rich & potent then we do at p^rsent. And all this would be done without any new charge to the government.