Coinage

In the latter part of the eighteenth century the Royal Mint had crude technology for producing coins. This meant that not only was reproducing counterfeit money easier there was little control over the size of coins. Consequently some forgers would shave off bits of the coin and use the metal to make new ones. The Royal Mint stopped producing coins in 1760 in an effort to combat the problem but instead this led to a shortage in coins. Forged coins were not uncommon in England in the 1780's and it is estimated that by 1786 nearly two thirds of the coins in circulation were counterfeit.

This was an area dear to Boulton's heart and he saw the ideal opportunity to pursue it. Many of the letters written by Matthew Boulton and James Watt elude to the coinage issues. In a letter from James Watt to Thomas Wilson in 1790 he says:

“I only write at present to inform you of my return from London where I left Mr Boulton , engaged in a very disagreeable business of his own. - It seems likely that there will be no Government Coinage soon & therefore it may perhaps be worth while to make a Cornish one & I understand Mr Vivian has had some conversation with Mr B[oulton]. on the subject” [AD1583/4/23]

According to the letters written to Wilson , Boulton concentrated most of his energy on this affair and great deal of time in London in pursuit of his goal, the majority of it waiting around for a meeting with the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, Boulton had already had interest from the French to produce their coins and had begun setting up a mint in Soho for this purpose. This was a project to cost him a considerable amount of money and caused no end of headaches as the following from Matthew Robinson Boulton to Wilson in 1791demonstrates:

“I reflect upon the situation my Father is in, how much he hath expended upon Coinage & particularly within the last 3 months - a new range of Shops has been built, he has brought Artists at a considerable expence from Paris, erected several new presses & entered into engagem[en]ts for the delivery of large quantities of Coin, these are all now upon the point standing still & moreover the East India Co[mpany] positively demand the delivery of the remainder of their Coin before Christmas. The stoppage of his Works will be a very considerable loss to him, but in the eyes of Man of Honour the loss of Character is a much greater consideration & therefore you cannot be surprised that my Father should feel himself chagrined at the disapointment, which he augers from your Letter to B&H. &c:” [AD1583/4/104]

However, several others were interested in the coinage and Boulton increasingly faced betrayal from a number of people as this letter demonstrates:

“You may remember I shewd you & Dick Phillips a piece of the Copper Coin I am makeing for France & that after dinner at Bristol Dick borrowd it to shew his friend & by thus shewing it, it came at length within reach of Mr Will[ia]ms who seized it by Violence & kept it in spite of all I said. This piece he took to London & hath made an unfriendly & dishonorable use of it. He is now endeavouring to rival me in that line & to rob me of my rights & do me every injury in his power, & his power in the Copper trade is now so great as to be intoxicated with it, & become a Tyrant…… He [ Mr Williams ] proposed to me that if I would give him 500 Guineas for his old presses (which to me are only old Iron) he would give me all his Coinage & relinquish all opposition to me in the Goverm[en]t Coinage. I have taken them & now I hear he is employing people in London to erect a new apparatus upon my patent principles”. [AD1583/4/116]

The jealousy continued and opponents pressed the government to stop his production of coins. “There is a meeting of Birm[ingha]m Manufacturers to day to consider how to remove the monopoly of Copper. Mr. B[oulton] was not invited. They want Parl[iamen]t to stop his Coinage.” [AD1583/5/10] and so worried was he about the competition that he repeatedly asked Wilson to keep the matter under wraps. “ I wish my Coinage to be a subject of Silence least Envy or averice should awaken any persons attention to it” [AD1583/9/46]. Wilson turned informant and kept Boulton supplied with information as this extract demonstrates:

“I perceive by your letter of the 25 April that Vivian is cutting me up and that prejudices are spreading against me although I have taken more pains, put my self to more expence and done more in fav[ou]r of Cornwall than all the County in ye matter of Coinage.

As I make it a rule never to give up my informant I have wrote you an ostensible letter A and youl see be ye whole I have kept you out of sight. I have now to request of you that you will keep to your self every thing w[hi]ch I communicate to you in Confidence for I know that all trifles are spread by means of Committees and Cornish Acc[ountan]ts through out the whole mining district.” [AD1583/2/46].

Finally, however, all Boultons time and efforts paid off and he was granted permission to begin minting in 1797.“ I have pleasure to tell you that I have this day receivd his Majestys Warrent to which is annexed his sign Manual & ye great Seal empowering me to execute the present intended Copper Coinage & for that purpose I shall return home at ye end of the present week & set about it with Spirit I have secured the whole of the Copper wanted & even more haveing been tempted to purchase a considerable quantity this day at 102.” [AD1583/9/78]. He was commissioned to produce 45 million penny and two penny pieces and once permission had been granted, he wasted no time in minting the copper coins.

Much of the copper used at the Soho mint came from Cornish mines. Numerous letters to Thomas Wilson are requesting substantial amounts of copper to be shipped to Birmingham . “You say you shall soon have 40 Ton of [here is given the alchemical symbol for copper] to deliver B&W. I think you may venter to send 20 Ton of it to Williams . It is probable I shall want 20 Ton here for a Coinage but I shall not know 'till next week if that will be the case, & then I will write you (what I may want must be tough). Some time ago you sent a Ton of Shot Copper highly refin[e]d a part of which I used, & it was very good; & now I want more, but I find B&W have used it all up. I therefore wish to have such another Ton and furthermore I wish it was possible you could prepare our Bar Copper for plateing which we find difficult to obtain. It is sometimes very good & sometimes we had better give 5d [pence] p[er] lb [pound] than attempt to use it.” [AD1583/9/10].

From the letters in which Boulton is requesting more copper for his Soho manufactory, we learn that the price of copper fluctuated dramatically. In fact it was the cause of several riots as these examples demonstrate.

“ Our Mr Watt acknowledged yesterday the rec[eip]t of your letter of the 14th In[stan]t the Contents of which gives us great concern & the writer of this enters most sensibly into all your & Mrs. Wilsons feelings on the late appearance of Riot.

We have not the least idea of the cause of the Tinners being violently prejudiced against you & in your next pray tell us the grounds of it. We are certain of one thing which is that they do not distinguish between those who are their real friends & those who are not.

As to our selves, if we could avert or mitigate the Miseries with which they are threatend We would do it with all hearts & Souls & we conceive the most effectual means is to extend & promote the consumption & Sales of Copper, to raise the price, & to lessen the dead Stock all which we are silently doing to the best of our power.

As the quantity of Copper & Tin lately raisd in Cornwall is much too great for all the markets to take off, it is proper the Miners & the Adventurers should turn their Eyes to Lead as the price of that Metal is almost double what it was some Years ago it being now from 21 to 23£ a Ton and We have no doubt from what we have heard that there are Lead Mines in several parts of Cornwall that will at this time pay much better than most of the Copper & Tin mines now working .” [AD1583/3/19]

“These riots at the weighings should be withstood by superior force & let the rioters take the consequence. We suppose the magistrates may order the military on that service, but if after all the ores should be taken away from the C. M.Co [Consolidated Mines [?] Company] an action at law should immediately be brought by them against the mine that permit it./>” [AD1583/3/35]

Matthew Boulton saw the pursuit of the copper coinage as an excellent business venture. Despite a great deal of time and hard work his efforts paid off and his Soho mint could finally produce coins for England . His development of the coinage press created coins of a uniform weight and size and ultimately coinage as we know it today. His techniques were to remain in use for many years and although he developed a system whereby the presses made reeded and lettered edges making forgery harder this technique was not adopted by the Royal mint until the production of the £1 and £2 coin. The uniform weights of coins were to remain a for 170 years.