[54]It is inserted in the Philosophical Transactions for 1803.“Gold made standard by a mixture of equal parts of silver and copper, is not so soft as gold alloyed only with silver; neither is it so pale; for it appears to be less removed from the colour of fine gold, than either the former or the following metal.“Gold, when alloyed with silver and copper, when annealed, does not become black, but brown; and this colour is more easily removed by the blanching liquor, or solution of alum, than when the whole of the alloy consists of copper. It may also be rolled and stamped with great facility; and, under many circumstances, it appears to suffer less by friction than gold alloyed by silver or copper alone.“If copper alone forms the alloy, it must be dissolved and separated from the surface of each piece of coin, in the process of annealing and blanching.“Upon a comparison of the different qualities of the three kinds of standard gold, it appears (strictly speaking) that gold made standard by silver and copper is rather to be preferred for coin.”It will, undoubtedly, seem not a little strange to the uninitiated, that this report, and its important deductions, should have been of late years entirely set at nought, without any scientific reason or research, apparently for the purpose of giving a certain official in our Mint a good job, in sweating out all the silver from our sovereigns, and replacing it, in the new coinage, with copper, taking on an average 3d.worth of silver out of each ounce of our excellent gold coin, and charging the country 61⁄2d.for its extraction, besides the very considerable expense in providing fine copper to replace the silver. The pretence set up for this extraordinary degradation of the gold, was, that our coin might peradventure be exported, in order to be de-silvered abroad, a danger which could have been most readily averted, by leaving out as much gold in every sovereign as was equivalent to the silver introduced, and thus preserving its intrinsic value in precious metal. When the film of fine gold which covers each of our present pieces has been rubbed off from the prominent parts, these must appear of a very different and deeper colour than the flat part or ground of the coin. “The reason, therefore, is sufficiently apparent, says Mr. Hatchett, why gold which is alloyed with silver only, cannot be liable to this blemish;” and with one-half of silver alloy, it must be much less liable to it, than with copper alone. Why did the political economists in the recent Committee of the House of Commons on the Mint, blink this question, of public economy and expediency?Gold, as imported from America, Asia, and Africa, contains on an average nearly the right proportion of silver for making the best coin; and were it alloyed to our national standard, of 22 parts of gold, 1 of silver, and 1 of copper, as defined by Messrs. Cavendish and Hatchett, then by simply adding the deficient quantities of one or two of these metals, by the rule of alligation, the very considerable expense would be saved to the nation, and sulphureous nuisance to the Tower Hamlets, now foolishly incurred in de-silvering and cuprifying sovereigns at the Royal Mint.It was long imagined in Europe, that the average metallic contents of the silver ores of Mexico and Peru, were considerably greater than those of Saxony and Hungary. Much poorer ores, however, are worked among the Cordilleras than in any part of Europe. The mean product of the whole silver ores that are annually reduced in Mexico, amounts only to from 0·18 to 0·25 of a per cent.; that is, from 3 to 4 ounces in 100 lbs.; the true average being, perhaps, not more than 21⁄2. It is by their greater profusion of ores, not their superior richness, that the mines of South America surpass those of Europe.GoldandSilverproduced in Forty Years, from 1790 to 1830.Gold.Silver.Mexico£6,436,453£139,818,032Chile2,768,4881,822,924Buenos Ayres4,024,89527,182,673Russia3,703,7431,502,981Returnsof theDollarscoined at the different Mints inMexico.1829.1830.1831.1834.Mexico1,280,0001,090,0001,386,000952,000Guanajuato2,406,0002,560,0002,603,0002,703,000Zacatecas4,505,0005,190,0004,965,0005,527,000Guadalaxara596,000592,000590,000715,000Durango659,000453,000358,0001,215,000San Luis1,613,0001,320,0001,497,000928,000Ilalpan728,00090,000323,000—Total11,787,00011,295,00011,722,00012,040,000The returns for 1832 and 1833 are wanting.Peru.—ReturnsofGoldandSilvercoined at the Mints of Lima and Casco.Gold.Silver.Total, inDollars.1830180,0002,015,0002,195,000183192,0002,384,0002,476,000183294,0003,210,0003,284,0001833150,0002,990,0003,140,0001834110,0003,150,0003,260,000ReturnsofSilverinBarsproduced at the different Smelting-works inPeru.Lima.Truxillo.Pasco.Aya-cucho.Puno.Are-quipa.Total, inDollars.1830270,000190,000780,000120,000250,000150,0001,760,0001831270,00060,0001,110,00070,000310,000110,0001,930,0001832290,000100,0001,800,00070,000345,00025,0002,640,0001833222,00070,0002,130,00050,00025,00065,0002,562,000ReturnsofSilverinDollarsexported from the Provinces ofChili.Coquimbo.Huasco.Copiano.1831785,000115,000670,0001832316,000—36,0001833490,000100,000585,0001,591,000215,0001,291,000Santiago—Mint Coinage.Gold.Silver.Total.1832, 174,000; 1833, 392,5001832, 42,000; 1833, 92,000700,500The production ofSilverin the kingdom ofSaxony, amounted to—59,231marcsand8loths,in the year182555,023——182660,034——182761,361——182865,176—and10loths—183065,886——1832The mine of Himmelsfürst alone produces annually 10,000 marcs.The quantity ofSilverproduced in thePrussianstates was—22,135marcs in182520,071—182618,631—182721,731—182820,612—182920,887—183019,031—183122,083—1832The whole annual production of Europe, and Asiatic Russia, has been rated by Humboldt at 292,000 marcs; by other authorities, at 310,000; while at the beginning of the present century, that of the Spanish colonies in America was 3,349,160 marcs, ornearly twelve times as much. The sum total is 3,704,160 marcs, of 3609 grains troy each; which is nearly 1,900,000 lbs. avoirdupois; that is, little less than 9000 tons.The English Mint silver contains 222 pennyweights of fine silver, and 18 of copper, in the troy pound of 240 pennyweights; or 92·5 in 100 parts. 1 pound troy = 5760 grains, contains 65·8 shillings, each weighing 87·55 grains. The French silver coin contains one-tenth of copper, and a franc weighs 5 grammes = 77·222 grains troy. The Prussian dollar, (thaler), is the standard coin; 101⁄2thalerweigh 1 marc; hence, 1thalerweighs 343·7 grains troy, and contains 257·9 grains of fine silver; being 75 per cent. of silver, and 25 of alloy. The Austrian coin contains13⁄288of alloy, according to Wasserberg; which is only 41⁄2per cent.
[54]It is inserted in the Philosophical Transactions for 1803.
[54]It is inserted in the Philosophical Transactions for 1803.
“Gold made standard by a mixture of equal parts of silver and copper, is not so soft as gold alloyed only with silver; neither is it so pale; for it appears to be less removed from the colour of fine gold, than either the former or the following metal.
“Gold, when alloyed with silver and copper, when annealed, does not become black, but brown; and this colour is more easily removed by the blanching liquor, or solution of alum, than when the whole of the alloy consists of copper. It may also be rolled and stamped with great facility; and, under many circumstances, it appears to suffer less by friction than gold alloyed by silver or copper alone.
“If copper alone forms the alloy, it must be dissolved and separated from the surface of each piece of coin, in the process of annealing and blanching.
“Upon a comparison of the different qualities of the three kinds of standard gold, it appears (strictly speaking) that gold made standard by silver and copper is rather to be preferred for coin.”
It will, undoubtedly, seem not a little strange to the uninitiated, that this report, and its important deductions, should have been of late years entirely set at nought, without any scientific reason or research, apparently for the purpose of giving a certain official in our Mint a good job, in sweating out all the silver from our sovereigns, and replacing it, in the new coinage, with copper, taking on an average 3d.worth of silver out of each ounce of our excellent gold coin, and charging the country 61⁄2d.for its extraction, besides the very considerable expense in providing fine copper to replace the silver. The pretence set up for this extraordinary degradation of the gold, was, that our coin might peradventure be exported, in order to be de-silvered abroad, a danger which could have been most readily averted, by leaving out as much gold in every sovereign as was equivalent to the silver introduced, and thus preserving its intrinsic value in precious metal. When the film of fine gold which covers each of our present pieces has been rubbed off from the prominent parts, these must appear of a very different and deeper colour than the flat part or ground of the coin. “The reason, therefore, is sufficiently apparent, says Mr. Hatchett, why gold which is alloyed with silver only, cannot be liable to this blemish;” and with one-half of silver alloy, it must be much less liable to it, than with copper alone. Why did the political economists in the recent Committee of the House of Commons on the Mint, blink this question, of public economy and expediency?
Gold, as imported from America, Asia, and Africa, contains on an average nearly the right proportion of silver for making the best coin; and were it alloyed to our national standard, of 22 parts of gold, 1 of silver, and 1 of copper, as defined by Messrs. Cavendish and Hatchett, then by simply adding the deficient quantities of one or two of these metals, by the rule of alligation, the very considerable expense would be saved to the nation, and sulphureous nuisance to the Tower Hamlets, now foolishly incurred in de-silvering and cuprifying sovereigns at the Royal Mint.
It was long imagined in Europe, that the average metallic contents of the silver ores of Mexico and Peru, were considerably greater than those of Saxony and Hungary. Much poorer ores, however, are worked among the Cordilleras than in any part of Europe. The mean product of the whole silver ores that are annually reduced in Mexico, amounts only to from 0·18 to 0·25 of a per cent.; that is, from 3 to 4 ounces in 100 lbs.; the true average being, perhaps, not more than 21⁄2. It is by their greater profusion of ores, not their superior richness, that the mines of South America surpass those of Europe.
GoldandSilverproduced in Forty Years, from 1790 to 1830.
Returnsof theDollarscoined at the different Mints inMexico.
Peru.—ReturnsofGoldandSilvercoined at the Mints of Lima and Casco.
ReturnsofSilverinBarsproduced at the different Smelting-works inPeru.
ReturnsofSilverinDollarsexported from the Provinces ofChili.
Santiago—Mint Coinage.
The production ofSilverin the kingdom ofSaxony, amounted to—
The mine of Himmelsfürst alone produces annually 10,000 marcs.
The quantity ofSilverproduced in thePrussianstates was—
The whole annual production of Europe, and Asiatic Russia, has been rated by Humboldt at 292,000 marcs; by other authorities, at 310,000; while at the beginning of the present century, that of the Spanish colonies in America was 3,349,160 marcs, ornearly twelve times as much. The sum total is 3,704,160 marcs, of 3609 grains troy each; which is nearly 1,900,000 lbs. avoirdupois; that is, little less than 9000 tons.
The English Mint silver contains 222 pennyweights of fine silver, and 18 of copper, in the troy pound of 240 pennyweights; or 92·5 in 100 parts. 1 pound troy = 5760 grains, contains 65·8 shillings, each weighing 87·55 grains. The French silver coin contains one-tenth of copper, and a franc weighs 5 grammes = 77·222 grains troy. The Prussian dollar, (thaler), is the standard coin; 101⁄2thalerweigh 1 marc; hence, 1thalerweighs 343·7 grains troy, and contains 257·9 grains of fine silver; being 75 per cent. of silver, and 25 of alloy. The Austrian coin contains13⁄288of alloy, according to Wasserberg; which is only 41⁄2per cent.