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Led by "King" David Hartley, the Coiners obtained real coins from publicans, sometimes on the promise that they could "grow" the investment by smelting the original metals with base ores. They "clipped" the edges of genuine coins, leaving them only very slightly smaller, and collected the shavings. They then melted down the shavings to produce ...
Eliz. (1559) in respect of clipping or counterfeiting coin". [1] Mestrelle offered his services to the English court, and he was authorised by Elizabeth to set up the first coin press in England. Machine-struck, or milled, coinage was hitherto unknown in England, as all previously produced coins had been hammered. [2]
Debasement lowers the intrinsic value of the coinage and so more coins can be made with the same quantity of precious metal. If done too frequently, debasement may lead to a new coin being adopted as a standard currency, as when the Ottoman akçe was replaced by the kuruş (1 kuruş = 120 akçe), with the para (1/40 kuruş) as a subunit.
Having perfectly round coins made it easy to detect clipping, but the coiners' establishment would have none of this and within a decade the Moulin des Étuves' ex-employees were finding work in Navarre and England. [5] A mill for the production of 'milled' coins with both coin dies illustrated.
By 1696 forged coins constituted approximately 10% of the nation's currency. [3] The currency also had a third problem: its value as silver bullion in Paris and Amsterdam was greater than the face value in London, and thus vast quantities of coins were melted and shipped abroad — an arbitrage market.
The Coinage Offences Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4.c. 34) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated England and Wales all legislation concerning the counterfeiting and clipping of coins into one act.
The edge minting made possible with the new technology is not only difficult to forge; it also increases the circulation security of the coins, since coin clipping is very easily noticed. A pearl circle often adjoins the edge bar on the inside.
By clipping or shaving coins, the amount of silver or precious metal in the coin decreased. Additionally, by melting coins, mixing them with lesser metals, making new coins, and circulating them, the nominal value, face value, greater deferred from the melt value or value of the metal in the coin.