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The state of the Mint & Coynage according to the best of my knowledge has hitherto been as follows.

Vpon a contract between the Crown & the Master & Worker for the time being some Officers of the mint act in behalf of the Crown as cheques upon the Master to see that he performs his contract duty & others act under the Master for performing that contract. By the Indenture of the Mint the Warden pays the Salaries of the former {&} the charges of the Diets of the Officers & other necessary charges to be imployed in & about the making of the said moneys, or repairing of the Offices & Houses necessary to be imployed in the said service <4v>

By the Act of 18 Car II entituled An Act for encouraging of Coynage the Salaries of the Officers of the Mint & the charges of providing maintaining & repairing of the houses Offices & buildings & other necessaries for assaying melting down & coyning are limited to 3000li for preventing extravagance & the Overplus (for encouraging the coinage) is appropriated to the expence wast & charge of assaying meltign down & coyning, & buying in of Bullion to coyn. And in the clause preceding, these necessaries are called the charge or expence of the Mint, & the overplus is called the charge or expence of Assaying melting down & coyning & the encouragement of bringing in bullion. By the first I understand such necessaries for coining as may be limited without discouraging teh coynage by the second such as cannot, that is such as arise from the {being} of a coynage & increase or decrease therewith. The Act of Parliament reccons the Houses Offices & buildings among the necessaries & the Indenture of the Mint made at that time, adds the Diet, & allows 2600li per annum for the salaries & so leaves only 400li for the buildings Diet & other necessary provisions whereby the Master may be enabled to carry on the coinage.

Vpon a contract by Indenture between the Crown & the Master & Worker for the time being, some Officers of the Mint act in behalf of the crown as cheques upon the Master to see that he performs his contract duly & others act under him for performing that contract. And by the Indenture the Warden pays the Salaries of the former & the charges of the repairs & of the Diet of the Officers & other necessary charges to be imployed in & about the making of the moneys & repairing of the Offices & Houses necessary to be imployed in the said service. There are the necessaries within the 3000li. And the Master pays the Moneyers

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By the Indenture of the Mint the Warden pays the Salaries of the former, & the charges of the Diet of the Officers & other necessary charges to be imployed in & about the making of the said moneys or repairing of ht e Offices & Houses necessary to be imployed in the said service. And the Master pays the Moneyers 9$\frac{1}{2}$ per pound weight of silver & 3s 6d per pound weight of Gold for drawing cutting flatting sizing marking & coyning the same & for all their labour wast & expence therein & for keeping in repair all the Rollers & Instruments to cut flatten make round & size the pieces & mark them on the edges & all other tools Engins & instruments amongst which are the Mills & the scales & weights & vices & files for sizing. But the wooden work of the Mills Presses & Cutters & the Nealing & blanching furnaces & the furnaces in the melting houses are repaired by the direction of the Master & the charges therof are placed in his Account according to the {Laws} of the Mint. And so are all the charges of Assaying, (vizt in charcoal, Aqua fortis, watersilver, lead, furnaces Cuppels,) & the charges of reducing the silver to standard by refineing & allay. All these charges are paid by the Master out of the surplus above the 3000li; vizt the charges of repairing the Mills Presses & other coyning tools & those of reducing the Bullion to standard by vertue of certain clauses of the Indenture, & those of Assaying by vertue of a clause of the coynage Act. The wooden work of the Mills Presses & Flatters may be considered as belonging to the coyning Tools. The Assay furnace is a moveable engin m{a}de of copper plates. The other furnaces are distinguished from the bu{il}dings in being under the Masters direct. He erects repairs removes & rebuilds them without medling with the buildings or asking te consent or leave of the other Officers & he places the charges of repairing them in his own Account according to the course of the Mint while the charges of repairing the buildings are placed in the Wardens Account. And the reason of this distinction seems to be that the Master may be enabled to dispatch the coynage & make delivery with all convenient speed according to his covenants without staying for the consent or order of the other Officers or being retarded by the want of money, while the salaries of the Officers & the charges of repairs & necessaries in the Wardens Account are limited to 3000li for preventing extravagance. And by this means the Warden & master are enabled to make up their Accounts severally without depending upon one another.

If any doubt arise about any custome or course of the Mint, the custome not being contrary to Act of Parliament is made a law by the following clause of the Indenture of the Mint. And that the said Master & Worker shall upon his Account yearly to be made of his Receipts payments charges & disbursments before the Auditors of the Mint or Mints for the time being have full allowance defalc{ati}on & discharge of & for all such summ & summs of money as he shall duly pay & disburse according to the true intent & meaning of the above recited Letters patents & according to the directions hereafter in these presents expressed, & according to the course of the said Mint or Mints respectively, as by the same Acts of Parliament is directed & appointed

The Master & Worker also as Treasurer of the Mint pays the fees at the Exchequer & Treasury upon received the Coynage money & those for passing the Accounts through the several Offices of the exchequer.

He pays also the charges of trying the Pix & the fees for entring the Report of the Iury, & for summoning them. The Pix is tried by the Assay & the charges there{of} belong to that head. But the charges of the Dinner for the Iury being too great to come within the 3000li, have been hitherto paid out of the civil List.

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The particulars of the Masters Account for the year 1712 are as follows

 The salaries upon the Indenture 1080 } 1595 upon warrants 515 The coinage per pound weight 1058 Put into the Pix 203. 13. 6 Lost by assays. 2. 2. 4 Charge of making new Gold furnaces the old ones being worn out 64. 13. 0 Charges of assaying 92. 15. 9 } 129. 19. 8 Charges of reducing the Bullion to standard 37. 3. 11 Paid to the Moneyers by Act of Parliament for their service in Scotland } 2692. 15. 2$\frac{1}{2}$ ① Auditors Fee 84. 0. 0 ① Fees & Charges at the Exchequer & Treasury in receiving the Coynage moneys & at severall Offices in passing the Accounts } 37. 4. 6 {The} rest to the Warden 2004. 9. 0

The furnaces were necessary to be repaired for carrying on the coynage & the charges thereof & those of hte Assay ffice & of reducing the moneybullion t standard w{illeg} free from extravagance & {illeg} legal & necessary for encouraging the coynage & the fees at the Exchequer Treasury & other Officers were necessary to be paid & all these expences are placed in my Account according to the course of the Mint & the Vouchers are good & therefore all these charges are I think to be allowed by the Article of the Indenture above recited. And the Warden is to discharge himself of what has been imprest to him & in his next Account to charge himself with the surplus if any there be.

The salary of 40li to the Wardens second Clerk is now ceased, but in its stead the charges of the dinner of the Iury at the last trial of the Pix amounting to about 92li will come into the next years Account

© 2019 The Newton Project

Professor Rob Iliffe
Director, AHRC Newton Papers Project

Scott Mandelbrote,
Fellow & Perne librarian, Peterhouse, Cambridge

Faculty of History, George Street, Oxford, OX1 2RL - newtonproject@history.ox.ac.uk

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