1797 and All That
By Hilbo Neilson | Wednesday, 9 February 2000
Pepin the Short had, around 755, instituted a new broad, thin coin which he called a denarii, its common name being denier. Offa of Mercia liked the look of these coins and re-organized his minting operations along the same lines.
The denier, introduced to the Anglo-Saxon people soon became the penny, which lasted thereafter up into modern times, but now only seen in the Maundy money. Around the year 800, the measure of weight of Aachen was taking over from the Paris pound and the Cologne and Tower pounds were born. The Tower pound was, like the later Troy pound, of 5760 grains, of 12 ounces, each ounce being of 20 pennyweight – thus giving 240 pennyweights, each of 24 grains, to the pound.
The standard weight for the new penny was probably due to Ecgbeorth (802-839), and remained the standard for the next 700 years until 1526, when Henry VIII brought in the pound Troy, one of his less malicious tinkerings with the coinage. This led to 576 0 grains Tower being the same weight as 5400 grains Troy. A pound Tower was approximately 350 grams against the pound Troy of 373 grams.The Anglo-Saxon penny, as listed in the catalogues, was 22 1/2 grains.
Inflation meant that silver increased in value and a Tower pound of sterling silver was made into more and more pennies. This had risen to 266 by 1344, and gold returned as an acknowledged means of exchange. It was accepted lore that a coin should be the same by weight and by tale, i.e. its silver content should equal its face value. In 1344 Edward III issued a florin, and later nobles and their divisions. Between 1344 and 1351 although the nominal number of pence in the higher value coin, a florin or noble, remained the same, the grains weight fluctuated. The basic reason for this extraordinary situation was simply the law of supply and demand.
Problems of bi-metalism were to dog succeeding Chancellors for the next 500 years. Gold coin was always valued in terms of the silver coins its value represented. By 1696 gold guineas were trading at 30/- per coin, largely due to the poor silver. Even by 1717, after the great silver re-coinage, they were still current at 21/6d. On 22 December 1717 and end was put this by a proclamation that said the value of a gold guinea was to be no her than 21/- silver. It was a turning point in the gold/silver relationship. During the 18th century silver was worth more abroad than in England, and led to no silver coins being minted from 1750 to 1799. Things were indeed in a parlous state.
In 1782 Samuel Garvett was commissioned to investigate, along with his son Francis, the state and charge of the arrangements at the Mint. His recommendation, however, died with the change of the Minister Shelburne. His most notable recommendation was that silver should b e cut to 76/- to the one pound. 1797 a Privy Council committee was appointed top consider the state of the copper coinage. In 1788 they viewed the patterns submitted by Matthew Bou lton of Birmingham, and then lapsed.
On 1 March 1797 the House of Commons requests that the King give directions for the immediate supply of copper coin. The Committee's immediate response was to place an order in July with Matthew Boulton for 500 tons of two penny and penny pieces. No farthings or halfpennies were ordered as it was felt they would utterly discredit the circulating coin.
By a proclamation of 26 July 1797 currency was given to the New Copper Coinage of 1 d and 2d. The one penny was to weigh one ounce avoirdupois, the two pence twice its weight. The intrinsic value (workmanship included) was to correspond as nearly as possible with the nominal value of same. Matthew Boulton had many good ideas and, quite apt from serving his mining interests in Cornwall, he genuinely wanted to serve the public. However, in slavishly following his ideas, the Committee had created, for the first time, tri-metalism in Britain. The gold, silver, and copper coin, despite their fluctuating market prices, were to be the same by tale as by weight, and to conform to a fixed exchange rate between the coins of each metal. The war with France pushed up the price of copper so that 1lb avoirdupois produced, in 1797, 16 coins (1s/4d); in 1799, 18 coins (Is 6d), and in 1805/6, 24 coins (2/-).
It had been noted in 1792 that the position was being made worse by the French exchanging their assignats for as much silver as they could procure. In 1798 10,000 pounds of silver was delivered to the Mint to be made into shillings and sixpences. The delivering merchants (who included Dorien Magens Dorien) promised further large supplies possibly as much 100,000 pounds.
A re-constituted Committee of Council for Coin was set up on 7 February 1798 who, quite late in the proceedings, heard of this novel undertaking and promptly stopped it by Order in Council. This Order effectively cancelled the public right to deliver bullion to the Mint and have it struck into coin. The cancellation was due to the fact that the Committee had not decided on the weight of the new silver coin, and it was going to take another 18 years before it could make up its collective mind. Various expediencies were tried over the coming years with regard to the silver coin. The Bank of England was encouraged to issue silver tokens, the Royal Mint also later issuing its own silver tokens which were largely captured silver Spanish coin that was countermarked with the King's head and a value. Frequently the silver in the host coin was below sterling silver, and the weight was also below the face value issue given them in Britain. This situation gave rise to the popular jibe of Two kings heads not being worth a Crown.
In 1805 A Treatise on the Coin of the Realm in a Letter to the King, written by Charles Jenkinson, first Earl of Liverpool, was published. It was, in fact, largely the report of the 1798 committee but ill health had prevented Jenkinson working on it at the time. The thinking in this publication was very influential, as was the author.
From this time, a new Mint building on the site of a tobacco warehouse on East Minster Hill, or Tower Hill, was being considered, planned and ultimately built. It was to be August 1812, however, before the Mint was wholly in place in premises suitable for the work it was called upon to carry out.
On 21 May 1816 the Committee (and it was the 1798 Committee, still extant!) reported to the Prince Regent that gold and silver money was urgently needed and should continue as it had hitherto. Also, that gold alone should be the standard coin of the realm, silver coin should be considered merely as representative coins and legal tender only up to the value of two guineas.
The standard of fineness of silver coin should remain and be cut at 66 shillings to the Troy pound sterling. The belief was that the rate was sufficiently high to protect the new coins from being melted down, but not so high as to encourage making counterfeit coins.
A new gold coin, the sovereign, was Proclaimed current to the value of 20 shillings. Interestingly, the description of the design mentioned St George having a spear. All these recommendations were adopted, and served the county well for a hundred years. The copper coinage of 1805/6, at 24 pence to the pound avoirdupois, remained until 1860, when the copper coin was replaced by bronze.
