17th century minting process

[MiddenMonster]

Just watched a biography of Sir Isaac Newton, who was both Warden and later Master of the Royal Mint. As part of that biography they showed a drawing of what appeared to be the process of minting coins. It depicted two men using chains to pull on a two-armed handle and operating a press. As they pulled on the handle it forced a threaded part down onto the blank. It was very similar to a book press. It got me wondering how coins were minted back then. Newton completely overhauled the minting process, from purity to exact weights. So does anyone know how they minted coins in the late 17th century? It seems like it would have been incredibly slow (not to mention the force required to stamp/strike/press the coins), and the drawing I saw showed coins scattered all over the floor and table part of the press.

 

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[Red-Coat]

Up until the late 17th century, coins (at least in the Royal Mint) were hand struck from blanks which were also cut by hand.

 

[MiddenMonster]

Up until the late 17th century, coins (at least in the Royal Mint) were hand struck from blanks which were also cut by hand.

Well, that would put upgrading the process right in Newton's wheelhouse. In addition to being a math and physics genius, he was also a whiz with all things mechanical. Maybe it was Newton who was responsible for the drawing of the press they used. But I still wonder how hard it would be for two men to manually press out coins with their natural strength, and what kind of productivity they could achieve.

I couldn't find the image used in the Newton biography, but this image is fairly close:

The Early-Modern period – Striking coins with a Screw press

Wasn't allowed to embed the image, but the link is good. The Vintage News webpage for the image above also has some interesting reading about the screw press, if anyone is interested. But it looks like its use predates Newton, so his improvements at the Royal Mint may have been limited to purity and accuracy in weight. Still doesn't look very efficient for churning out large numbers of coins in a short time, to me. But I suppose it only had to be more efficient than striking them by hand.

 

[l.cutler]

The 17th century Massachusetts silver coins were thought to have been struck on a rocker press. The screw press was in use right up into the early days of the US mint.