Draft of <ref target="/catalogue/record/MINT00611">MINT00611</ref> (Mint 19/2/305) with further details on processes for testing copper Isaac Newton c. 1,490 words The Newton Project Oxford 2017 Newton Project, University of Oxford

This metadata is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

 c. 12 March 1713/4, c. 1,490 words. Report on copper coinage [MINT 19/2/305] MINT 19/2/303-4, National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK UKSurreyKew, RichmondNational Archives MINT 19/2/303-4 c. 12 March 1713/4 England English Holograph MintCopper Coinage Catalogue information compiled by Rob Iliffe, Peter Spargo & John Young Catalogue exported to teiHeader by Michael Hawkins Transcribed by Will Scott, with retrofitting of normalized MINT00611
303

To the most HonbleHonourable the Earl of Oxford & Earl Mortimer Lord H.High Treasurer of great Britain

May it please yoryour LordpLordship

1 I humblehumbly beg leave to lay before yoryour LordpLordship before yoryour LordpLordship that the Master & Worker of her MajtsMajestys Mint is not obliged to receive all the gold & siversilver coyne brought into her MajtsMajestys Mint to be coyned. If any gold be imported wchwhich is not tough, he returns it back to be toughned at the Importers charge. tho it be standard. If the gold or silver imported be uneavenly mixed or be too coarsecoarse, he returns it to be remelted or refined at yethe Importers charge. If any gold or silver be too coarse the M he returns it to be refined at the charge of the importers [And the M it is left to the discretion of the Master to judge whether the gold or silver is fit to be received or to be returned back.] And by parity of reason the he should not be obliged to receive all sorts of copper to be coined. If it be too coarse or too hard or want malleability or be ill coloured or otherwise faulty, he ought toshould be at liberty to return it back to the owner to be made fit for the Mint at the owners charge; otherwise it [& theis whether the Importers be patentees or others. power should be lodged in him as well for Copper as for gold & silver, whether the Importer be a Patentee or not.] Otherwise it be impossible will be IfTo coin Copper of equal goodness wthwith a sample Trial piece is a slippery proposal there being no certain way to compare them but by theirexceedingyexceedingly difficult & almost impracticable to coin the money of good malleable copper The Swedish money is much of such copper as when red hot will hammer without splitting, cracking, & the best wat of assaying such copper is by hammering it when red hot, & bending it when cold. This the & breating off a piece to observe the grain & colour. This is the assay of those who refine copper till it comecomes to a due degree of fineness, & no other assay of fine copper is to be relied on. Copper wchwhich is of For the price of fine Copper depends upo it malleability. No coarse copper whatever it ductile to as to beare the assay of the hammer. When it willin refining it begins to beare this sort Assay begins to be accounted it sold in yethe market for 1123 about 1112 per lwt. When it is made do fineductile as to draw into wire it is valued at 2 or 3 shillings per lwt, & the fitter it is for the wire drawer the greater is its price. Such fine copper is used also in the Mint for allaying of Gold & Silver because it makes the money more malleable, Those that make brass find that the finest copper drinks up most of the Lapis & thence some have framed a nation that for a there may be a way of assaying the wast Copper by the Lapis may But the wWire drawer who sets the price upon it will value it according to its ductibility & will judge of its ductibility as finds it by his own experience in drawing it into wire.

12 In valuing coarse copper such as is not f such as bears not the Assay by the hammer There is an assay of copper by refining a small parcesl & thence recconing what will be the wast & charges in refining a Tunn of such copper, & setting a value of upon it accordingly. And such an Assay is useful in buying coarse copper to be refined, but is of no use in assayin buying fine copper. The price of fine copper depends upon the malleability, & two parcels of fi copper equally fine wchwhich by such an assay are equally fine may differ very much in their their malleability, & by consequence in their price. There may be a penny a pound difference in their price. 23. All coarse copper is hard & brittle or& in refining it begins to be called fine copper when it begins to be soft & mallealemalleable. They that refine it frequently take out of the mass in fusion a spo with an iron spoon a little parcel & hammer it when red hot. And so soon as it hammers into a think plate withotut cracking, & whenthey hammered into a a square rod about a third of a convenient thickness & bend it when cold & breaking of a piece the grain & colour where it breaks & by the malleability grain & colour judge of its fineness., & accordingly set the price. The malleability is the chief Test, the grain colour assist the making a judgemen are further indications of the goodness of the Copper. And when they find the Copper sufficiently malleable to beare hammering & rolling into vessels & plates they value it at about 1114d or 1112d per lwtpound weight averdupois, & call it fine copper. And of such copper hammered & rolled the Swedes make their money. Some are so skilful in refining copper that they make it still more malleable so as to fit it into the be drawn into wire, & then the wire-drawer gives two or three shillings a pound for it accordingly as he finds it less or more fit for his purposemall ductile & fit to be drawn into wire. And some observe that in making of brass the finest or most malleable & ductile copper takes up most of the Lapis calaminaris & thence conclude that the finest copper may be assayed by observing how much of the Lapis it dranks up. Tut this way of assaying is troublesome & not yet in use, nor exact enough to be trusted in a Mint by reason of yethe different goodness of yethe Lapis. The malleability & ductility of fine copper is that wchwhich sets a price upon it & therefore is the truest Assay Copper refined to that degree & in that manner as to be malleable without cracking when red hot is the most usefull for manufacturing & the fittest material for intointo all sorts of copper vessels & for copper money. The Swedish copper money is of this standard; & [And if the English copper money be of the same standard it may be a pound weight may be cut into 18912d wchwhichout if the moeny be not edged or into 192012d, if it be edged; provided the money be made wthwithout copper can be cast into clean barrs. But Or else it may if it be made into barrs by casting ithammering a pound weight may be cut into 20t if not edged or into 21d if edged, & a pound out of every pound weight an half penny may be reserved for paying for the coyning tools & setting up a copper mint, & paying for the copper in case the price should rise] And if the English copper money be of the same standard a pound weight may be bought & coyned by casting, for 17d or 1714d per lwtpound weight if the same be not edged & the price of Copper do not rise, & or for a penny more if the same be edged & for three farthings or a a penny more if the same coyned be hammered be coyned by hammering & the a penny more may be allowed for incidents & the charges of putting off & a farthings per more in coyning four or sfixve hundred Tunns will pay for the puttin charges of setting up a mint.] And if the English copper money be of the same standard a pound weight will be worth about 1114 or 1112 at yethe Warehouses, & if it be made much more malleable the Wire drawer will 2 or 3 shillings a pound for it.. because of its fitness for his use. Tis the ductility that makes it useful & the usefullness that makes it malleable. sets a price upon it, & the tryal by hammering & bending hot & cold that determins the ductility. Refiners of too coarse Copper in not malleable till it begins to be fine. In refining copper the Refiner takes out an iron spoonful from time to time and tries it by yethe hammer & the bending & by the grain & colour in breaking untill it b by those signs he finds the copper to be fully fine & ready to vitrify. And then he lades it out into iron pawns. This is the the trial in refining copper & by consequence the proper trial for the Mint of fine copper fit to be coyned into copper money.