Holograph draft of MINT00063 (Mint 19/1/170-71)
May it please your Lordship
In obedience to your Lordships Order of Reference signified to us by Mr Lowndes his Letter of Aug 8 wherein we are directed to consider the Qualifications of Col. Parsons Mr Croker & Mr Rosse to succeed Mr Harris in the place of Graver of the Mint we have discoursed them & find that Coll. Parsons doth not grave himself but imploys good workmen & has a good fansy & judgement in those matters & that Mr Rosse desires to succeed Mr Harris only in his place of Graver of Seales to her Majesty & by a Seale which he has graved for the Dutchy of Lancaster he seems to be a good workman for seales & sufficiently qualified for that place.
But as for Mr Harris's other two places of Graver for the money & for Medals, we humbly lay before your Lordship that the Master of the Mint upon considering what inconveniency the Mint lately suffered & may again suffer by taking in Cutters of Seales into the chief Gravers place, did upon his succeeding Mr Neale put a clause into the Indenture then made between the Crown & himself whereby the Gravers salary of 325℔ per annum upon the next voydance of the place should cease in order to a new establishment. For the Roetiers brought up no new gravers under them & Mr Harris who succeeded them being a cutter of seales & not skilled in that sort of graving which is proper for the money, imployed Mr Croker to do all that work for an allowance of 175℔ per annum & retained to himself the remaining 150li per annum without doing any thing for it & Mr Croker not being bred up in the service of the Mint did not well understand it when he first succeeded Mr Roetier but was necessitated for three or four years to copy after Mr Roetiers work, tho now by long practise he works very well & we are humbly of opinion that he is the fittest person to be made first Graver of the Mint.
It is humbly proposed therefore, for the advantage & security of the coyn against counterfeiting, that there should be a set of Gravers constantly brought up in the Mint, who having once attained to perfection may do their own work & keep their Art amongst themselves & propagate it to Probationers or Apprentices & be succeeded by them: & that no new Graver be taken into the Mint or imployed under them unless as a Probationer or Apprentice. For which end we humbly propose that Mr Croker be now made the first Graver of the Mint by a signe Manual with a salary of 200li per annum, if your Lordship shall approve thereof, for maintaining himself & a servant to file & polish the Dyes & turn the Press, & be allowed the use of that part of the Gravers house in which he now lives & that Mr Bull who is now a Probationer & has a salary of 60li per annum with some other allowances worth about 20li a year more & works very well be made The second Graver with a Salary of 100li per annum if your Lordship pleases & be allowed the use of the other part of the Gravers house and that a new Probationer be taken into the third place as soon as a fit person shall be met with, & be allowed in one of the Gravers apartments a room with a closet to lodge & work in.
And as for the other place of Graver of Medals to her Majesty we are humbly of opinion that the Gravers of the Mint for the time being are the fittest persons to execute it, & that they be obliged by a clause in their constitution to assit the Master & worker of the Mint whenever he shal receive directions about making of Coronation Medals or others[1], & that they have no authority granted them to use any of the Presses or to work in any of the Rooms which belong to the Masters Office for the coynage of Money, without asking his leave. And that they shall not convey out of the Mint any of the Dyes or Puncheons for making of Medals nor sell Medals at a higher rate then the Warden Master & Comptroller of the Mint shall allow.
Mr Fowler another Petitioner is no Graver, but only makes designes & draughts for Medals.
