The Royal Mint : $b its working, conduct, and operations, fully and practically explained

"The Royal Mint" by George Frederick Ansell is a technical treatise and institutional critique written in the late 19th century. It explains, in practical detail, how Britain’s coinage was made and managed, combining workshop-level processes with policy analysis and proposals for reform drawn from the author’s firsthand experience inside the Mint. The opening of the work frames a public controversy around Mint management: a supportive letter from Lord Kinnaird recounts parliamentary skirmishes, disputed reports, failed technical claims, alleged misstatements about silver-coinage profits, and even the suggestion to try coining by contract. Ansell’s preface then traces the book’s earlier incarnations, its broad reception, and his reason for appending correspondence that illustrates how reforming officials can be punished for diligence. Brief dedicatory letters precede a succinct account of how he was recruited to curb irregularities and waste, with political pressure looming over the Mint’s future. The narrative then pivots into a clear, step‑by‑step primer on coining: the shift from hammered to milled money, legal standards for gold and silver, the Bank of England’s role, and meticulous descriptions of assaying, melting, casting bars, rolling, annealing, gauging, and drawing—punctuated by proposals such as thinner cast bars, resident assayers, improved balances, and tighter weighing and quality controls. (This is an automatically generated summary.)