1 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:09,479 Speaker 1: This is an I Heart original, so picture this. It's 2 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: early January, it's cold and wet. You're cold and wet. 3 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: You're in London, close to the Thames, where the narrow 4 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:23,319 Speaker 1: streets are filthy and prone to flooding. You decide to 5 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: head to a coffee house for a nice, warm dish 6 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: of coffee. Yes it is a dish. You approach the 7 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,479 Speaker 1: bar and the woman behind it. A dish of coffee 8 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: goes for about a penny, but pennies really, all silver 9 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: coins are in short supply these days, so what are 10 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:51,839 Speaker 1: you going to pay with? You plunge your freezing fingers 11 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: into your pocket. If you're a woman, this pocket is 12 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: a little pouch tied to your waist. And if you're 13 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: a man and your fashion forward, it's sewn into your clothes. 14 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: But let's be honest, you're definitely a man if you're 15 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: going to a coffeehouse, because most ladies weren't permitted. You 16 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: pull out a silver penny, an old, busted, handhammered silver 17 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: penny made before the restoration of the monarchy, some thirty 18 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: odd years prior. You place your penny on the counter nervously. 19 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 1: The coffee house made eyes it suspiciously. She picks it up, 20 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: testing the weight in her hand. It's a little bit thin, 21 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: the edges look worn. From what she can tell, the 22 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:40,559 Speaker 1: king on it has been dead for more than half 23 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:46,559 Speaker 1: a century. Is she going to accept it? Given where 24 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: we are in time, there's a very good chance that 25 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: she won't. So why would the coffeehouse maid reject your 26 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: busted penny money's money? Right? Well, yes and no, because 27 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: right about now, that's a bigger question than you might think, 28 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 1: and it's one that will dictate not only the career 29 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: of Isaac Newton, but also William Challoner. For I Heart Radio, 30 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: I'm Linda Rodriguez mcrabie and this is Newton's Law and 31 00:02:19,040 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: I Heart Original podcast. You are making episode two, No 32 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:15,760 Speaker 1: Silver Linings, Act one. For what it's worth, the coffee 33 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: house made might not take your coin because it's so degraded. 34 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: But the fact was, in early most of the coins 35 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: being traded throughout the country were degraded. England's currency is 36 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: in crisis. You know that if you spent a lot 37 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: of time in coffee houses, because these are places where 38 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: people talk, and one of the things people were definitely 39 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: talking about was the ongoing problems with the coinage, because 40 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: the terrible thing when a man cannot poaches a dish 41 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: of coffee for want of coin, I blame the mint. 42 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:54,839 Speaker 1: Barely the thin worn coins. Shopkeepers refuse them, and one 43 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: can barely discern between counterfeits, and they've justly made. There 44 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: are rumors that Parlament men and the Treasury and the 45 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: men are all planning to do something about it, but 46 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: as yet they haven't. So while everyone holds their breath 47 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: and waits for whatever the government decides, the status of 48 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: your particular coin hangs in the balance. The coffee housemaid 49 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: can decide that your coin is simply too busted and 50 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: turn you down, but then that means she's missing out 51 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 1: on a sale, or she can accept a coin that 52 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: is possibly worthless, or at least worth less. So say 53 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 1: she does accept your battered coin, maybe against her better instincts, 54 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: and you get your dish of coffee. You settle down 55 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 1: at a table. There are a couple of newspapers and 56 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: gazettes and pamphlets around, and you listen to the chatter 57 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: I have heard. The doctor is Newton is to be 58 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: the warden of the mint. Indeed, I do hope you 59 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: should have more to do with the affairs of the 60 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 1: mint than the last warden. Okay, what was going on 61 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: with the coinage? Well, we are going to get into 62 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,840 Speaker 1: that big time because it's the reason for this whole shebang, 63 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,280 Speaker 1: but we're going to first put that question on hold. 64 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:18,720 Speaker 1: We're going to start with another question. What actually is 65 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 1: a coin? At its most basic coin is money a 66 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:29,160 Speaker 1: representative way to store value. We can exchange that value 67 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:32,680 Speaker 1: for other things, goods and services. So money is a 68 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 1: medium of exchange, a way to facilitate trade or purchasing. 69 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: And from way back in the day, metal was ideal 70 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: for this representative exchange function because it was something that 71 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: most people agreed had inherent value, It was easily transferable, 72 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,160 Speaker 1: it was durable, and it was easily divisible on like 73 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: say a cow. Metal coins date back to around six 74 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 1: b C with the Lydians people and what's now to Turkey. 75 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:03,360 Speaker 1: Minting started in Britain in the second century b C 76 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,280 Speaker 1: with the various Celtic tribes, and then in a more 77 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,159 Speaker 1: regular way with the Romans. There was a mint in 78 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:12,480 Speaker 1: London dating from the third century, but then the Romans 79 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: left and London went through a kind of wild adolescence. 80 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:18,599 Speaker 1: But By the time about For the Great, the ninth 81 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:21,800 Speaker 1: century Anglo Saxon ruler who really laid the groundwork for 82 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,719 Speaker 1: the unification of England's various sovereign states, there was a 83 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 1: working mint in the city turning out the kingdom's coins. 84 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: By the seventeenth century, England's monetary system was based on 85 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:38,520 Speaker 1: a bi metallic standard, high denomination gold coins and lower 86 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: denomination silver coins, and the coins derived their value from 87 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:46,160 Speaker 1: the actual weight of the gold or silver they contained. 88 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: A penny, for example, was worth a penny because that 89 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: was the value of the twenty four grains of silver 90 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 1: it contained. Because unlike today where we have coins and 91 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: we we just hand them over, the kinage in the 92 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:03,600 Speaker 1: eighties six nineties relies on its weight in silver to 93 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,680 Speaker 1: give it its value. That's Chris Parker, historian at the 94 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 1: Royal Mint. As in the same royal mint that Alfred 95 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: the Great started back in the ninth century and the 96 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,679 Speaker 1: one that Newton becomes warden of in the seventeenth century, 97 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: and that still makes our coins now in the twenty 98 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: first century. Anyway, value based on weight seems very logical. 99 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:28,120 Speaker 1: But here's the problem. By the sixteen nineties, many many 100 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: of the coins in circulation, like You're busted penny did 101 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: not contain the amount of silver their face value promised 102 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:37,680 Speaker 1: they did. So if you had a coin that was 103 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: reduced in weight because it had silver removed from it, 104 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: it had lost some of its value, and you could 105 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: go to a shop and try and buy a shillings 106 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: worth of goods with a worn, battered, degraded shilling, the 107 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: shopkeeper isn't going to take that shillings value because he 108 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: can see it's lost weight. So as a huge problem 109 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: from an economic perspective that you're affecting trade. So, yeah, 110 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: you're lucky got that coffee, But why wouldn't your penny 111 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: contain those twenty four grains of silver? After all? Isn't 112 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: it the job of the Royal mint to make sure 113 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: that it did well? Yes, but in the six nineties 114 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,119 Speaker 1: several long simmering problems had just come to the boil. 115 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: First start, many of the coins were so degraded because 116 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: the vast majority of those coins were hand hammered. Hand 117 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: Hammering was how coins had been made for pretty much 118 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: as long as there had been coins. This was an 119 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: imprecise process. Coins were never each quite the same. The 120 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 1: engravings were often off center. The edges weren't milled, meaning 121 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: they didn't have the finish or the grooves that you 122 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:44,440 Speaker 1: see on modern coins. This irregularity meant that they degraded 123 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 1: or looked degraded more easily, and some people, a lot 124 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 1: of people took advantage of this. The easiest and perhaps 125 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 1: most damaging way people messed with the coinage was clipping. 126 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:02,040 Speaker 1: People would him off a tiny amount of metal around 127 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 1: the edge of the coin, then hammer the coin thinner 128 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: to make up the size, and then they'd gather up 129 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 1: all those tiny silver shavings, combine them and melt them 130 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: down into bars or ingots and sell those off. This 131 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,559 Speaker 1: was free money, and it was easy to get away 132 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: with because it was difficult to tell a coin that 133 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: was intentionally clipped from one that was just old. Everybody 134 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: was degrading the coinage because it was in such a 135 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: poor state anyway, and so once you get a majority 136 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:31,679 Speaker 1: of people doing it, it's it sort of takes away 137 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:34,880 Speaker 1: the stigma of doing something illegal, particularly when it's being 138 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:39,080 Speaker 1: done by respected banker's shopkeepers. People were just doing it 139 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: on a regular basis. It sounds almost trivial, what's a 140 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 1: little off the edges, But This was a tremendous problem 141 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:50,959 Speaker 1: because again it degraded the actual value of the coin 142 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: in your hand. Philosopher John Locke wrote, I do not 143 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: see how in a little while we shall have any 144 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:01,839 Speaker 1: money or goods at all in England if clipping be 145 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:06,240 Speaker 1: not immediately stopped. Clipping is a great leak, which for 146 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,560 Speaker 1: some time past has contributed more to sink us than 147 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: all the forces of our enemies could do. Some Mark 148 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 1: and Newton included even suspected that foreign powers were trimming 149 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:23,200 Speaker 1: English money just to synchronation that much faster. The terrible 150 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:25,720 Speaker 1: state of the hand hammered coins also meant that they 151 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: were easier to counterfeit using less valuable materials. You didn't 152 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:32,200 Speaker 1: even have to do a very good job. Well, if 153 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: you can imagine what you're trying to counterfeit is nothing 154 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:38,679 Speaker 1: except a very very badly worn blank disc with some 155 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 1: vague images on it that's over a century old. Incredibly 156 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: easy because you don't have to be a very good artist, 157 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: You don't have to be a very good engraver. You 158 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: can knock up some incredibly substandard eyes and you can 159 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,400 Speaker 1: put something out there that very easily resembles a batted, 160 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:56,760 Speaker 1: worn shilling sixpence or half crown that was over a 161 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:02,200 Speaker 1: century old. It wasn't that difficult. Counterfeiting and clipping often 162 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 1: went together. Sometimes clippers would melt down all those little 163 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 1: slivers of silver to use in counterfeiting new coins. Clipping 164 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: was so widespread that counterfeiters often clipped their own fakes 165 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:17,439 Speaker 1: to make them seem more authentic and counterfeiting well. Counterfeiting 166 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:20,280 Speaker 1: was so rampant that some estimates claimed that one out 167 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:25,679 Speaker 1: of every ten coins in circulation was fake. That was 168 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:28,960 Speaker 1: super bad for people at all levels of English society, 169 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,080 Speaker 1: from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the butcher, baker 170 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:36,119 Speaker 1: and candlestick makers. Not to mention the seventeenth century baristas. 171 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,360 Speaker 1: Silver was the lifeblood of the economy. This is what 172 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 1: everyone would have used to pay for daily expenses. If 173 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 1: there wasn't enough of it to go around, or if 174 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: what there was was debased and distrusted costs rows astronomically, 175 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:58,960 Speaker 1: economic life ground to a halt. The thing was, it 176 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 1: didn't have to be this way. The Mint had a 177 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 1: solution right there in its workshop. Act two. Msieur Blondeaux 178 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 1: and his marvelous machines. Peter blonde was an engineer at 179 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: the Paris Mint when he was noticed by England's Parliament 180 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:31,280 Speaker 1: in sixte How and why he was noticed I don't 181 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: know that. The important part is that the Treasury Committee 182 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 1: believed that Blondo had worked on improving the French coin, 183 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 1: specifically with using these new machines to mill, press and 184 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 1: edge coins, and that he could be persuaded to come 185 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: to England. This was a year of massive political upheaval. 186 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,600 Speaker 1: Charles the First was beheaded by the Parliamentarians, ending the monarchy. 187 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:01,760 Speaker 1: Oliver Cromwell appeared in general ame Lord Protector of the 188 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: newly made Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Wales, and he 189 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:11,679 Speaker 1: also canceled Christmas. The change in regime necessitated a change 190 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:15,440 Speaker 1: in coins, after all. In addition to being a medium 191 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:20,440 Speaker 1: of exchange, coins are also an easily disseminated reminder of 192 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: who's in charge. Blundo was invited by Parliament's Mint Committee 193 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,480 Speaker 1: to demonstrate his milling and edging technique in sixteen fifty. 194 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:32,520 Speaker 1: That year, after showing his very fine pieces to the committee, 195 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: Blundo published a pamphlet a bit of propaganda, describing the 196 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:42,520 Speaker 1: benefits of his machinery. A humble representation of Peter Blundo, 197 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: followed by another a most humble memorandum from Peter Blunde. 198 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 1: Spoiler alert, these were not humble. Blondo started by pointing 199 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: out everything that was wrong with hand hammered coins. The 200 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,600 Speaker 1: money coined with emma can not to be made exactly long, 201 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,719 Speaker 1: nor equal in weight and bigness, and is often ghostly 202 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:07,959 Speaker 1: marked and have many odds of folds, which gives a 203 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:12,400 Speaker 1: great facility to the false coiners to counterfeit it also 204 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,959 Speaker 1: to the clippers to clip it, it being very hard 205 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:22,840 Speaker 1: to discern between eclipped piece in one note clipped. Blondo, 206 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: as the Treasury knew, had a better way. Milt coinage 207 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:30,120 Speaker 1: was a German invention dating as far back as fifty 208 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:33,720 Speaker 1: Instead of hammering an image into a blank coin, Milt 209 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 1: coining used a screw press to sink the engraving deep 210 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,200 Speaker 1: into the metal. The innovation was brought to France, where 211 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: the mechanism was improved and adopted by the engineers at 212 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:47,800 Speaker 1: the Paris meant the machines produced regularly sized and weighted 213 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:51,600 Speaker 1: coins with precise images, which made them more difficult to counterfeit. 214 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 1: But Blondo's edging technique was the real start, allowing him 215 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,040 Speaker 1: to put a grooved finish or even a phrase on 216 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: the edges. This would make a coin nearly impossible to 217 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 1: clip without detection. Blundo wasn't the first to introduce these 218 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: machines to the Royal Mint, however, previous attempts had largely failed, 219 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: and you can chalk that up to a few things. 220 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: The cost of setting up and running the new machines 221 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 1: was considerable, and they were rumored to break down easily. 222 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: There was also the English distrust of anything foreign, especially French. 223 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: But perhaps more significantly, there was the fact that the 224 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:31,479 Speaker 1: Company of money Ears, more or less hereditary Union Slash Guild, 225 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: had had the exclusive contract with the Mint to produce 226 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 1: the coins for centuries, but in sixteen fifty the New 227 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:43,320 Speaker 1: Commonwealth needed new coins, and the Treasury was willing to 228 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:47,440 Speaker 1: give Blundo a chance. The money Ears for obvious reasons, 229 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 1: We're not It didn't help that Blundo not only wanted 230 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: their job and claimed they were rubbish at it, but 231 00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: he also accused the money Ears of corruption. In his pamphlets. 232 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 1: He alleged that the hammered coin fresh from the Mint 233 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:06,720 Speaker 1: was of disparate weights, and that this was intentional and 234 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 1: it was the poor he said, who suffered for it, 235 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 1: which turns to the great ruin and destruction of commerce 236 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: and undoing those poor people who spend their money little 237 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:23,960 Speaker 1: by little. Blondo was essentially accusing the money Ears of 238 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: serious corruption, of fraud. This really piste them off, of course, 239 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:30,880 Speaker 1: and they came back with a pamphlet of their own, 240 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:37,120 Speaker 1: a most humble remonstrance for Peter blonde Also not humble. 241 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: The moneyers responded that Blondo couldn't do anything that they 242 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 1: couldn't already do, branded him a liar, and slammed him 243 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:47,440 Speaker 1: for daring to claim that the money they made was 244 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 1: ill favoredly coined. Blondo, they said, not only maligned the 245 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: good name of the company of money Ears, but also 246 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 1: most falsely to imprint in the hearts and minds of 247 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 1: all people in Christendom, and more especially the good people 248 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:05,639 Speaker 1: under the obedience of the Parliament of England, that the 249 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: monies of this Commonwealth are not justly made. Blondeau was 250 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 1: undermining not only English confidence in the currency, but global 251 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: confidence in it as well with his force and scandalous libels. 252 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,639 Speaker 1: In sixteen fifty one, the Treasury decided to settle the 253 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:29,439 Speaker 1: matter with a competition a money off. Treasury officials said, fine, 254 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:32,960 Speaker 1: each of you design and make a half crown, a 255 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 1: shilling and sixpence coin, and we'll see which ones are better. 256 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: David Rammage, the provost of the moneyers, was their champion. 257 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: Provost was an elected position, meaning that Rammage was a 258 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: man of some reputation and power. And now in the 259 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:52,399 Speaker 1: Great money Off of sixty one, this reputation and the 260 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: reputation of the company and its contract with the Mint 261 00:17:55,480 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 1: was on the line. I mustn't file damn that frenchman's 262 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:13,919 Speaker 1: block ready set money make Brammage made the coins in 263 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:16,119 Speaker 1: the way that they always had, Using a hammer in 264 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:19,359 Speaker 1: his own hands, he placed the plan, set the blank 265 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:26,159 Speaker 1: coin on the anvil die to get the alignment perfect. 266 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,119 Speaker 1: Holding the top die in place, he swung the hammer, 267 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: bringing it down on the die and stamping the image 268 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:45,680 Speaker 1: into the metal. One done, h two oh three. Blundo 269 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: and his team meanwhile got his machines rolling one two, three, 270 00:18:54,760 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 1: ten seconds remaining. I. By the end of the allotted time, 271 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,679 Speaker 1: Rammont had made twelve coins, twelve coins that were a 272 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: bit wonky, that didn't quite look all the same, twelve 273 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: coins that looked like most of the money passed throughout 274 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:31,120 Speaker 1: the Kingdom, which is to say not great. Blondo meanwhile 275 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:36,679 Speaker 1: made three hundred coins, three hundred perfectly weighted, regularly sized 276 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: coins of impeccable quality and design, complete with a lettered 277 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,200 Speaker 1: edge that no clipper could clip. On the half crown piece, 278 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:49,400 Speaker 1: it read truth in Peace Ste Peter Blonde's inventor facet 279 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:54,479 Speaker 1: That's Latin for he made congratulations to Mont Senior Blondo 280 00:19:55,040 --> 00:20:05,040 Speaker 1: and his marvelous machines. Ram failed Blundo one. But despite 281 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:09,200 Speaker 1: the fact that Blondo's machines were clearly superior, the treasury 282 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:13,200 Speaker 1: passed on them. They just couldn't afford it. After all, 283 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:18,639 Speaker 1: it takes money to make money. But then a stroke 284 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: of luck, the English fleet captured a load of Spanish 285 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,440 Speaker 1: treasure at the Battle of Cadiz in sixteen fifty six, 286 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:27,440 Speaker 1: and suddenly the Commonwealth was able to pay for Blondo 287 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:32,480 Speaker 1: and his machines. But then Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell's death 288 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:35,600 Speaker 1: in sixteen fifty eight more or less ended the protector 289 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 1: at experiment, and it left Blundo without well a protector. 290 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,240 Speaker 1: He shipped his machinery off to Edinburgh and himself back 291 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,960 Speaker 1: to France, and he would have stayed there too, had 292 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: it not been for the terrible quality of the coins 293 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 1: minted for the restoration. King Charles the second Blundo was 294 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:56,800 Speaker 1: invited back in sixteen sixty two, and this time given 295 00:20:56,840 --> 00:21:00,000 Speaker 1: a twenty one year contract. The money ears might even 296 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,520 Speaker 1: have gotten to keep their jobs too, because these machines 297 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:06,200 Speaker 1: still needed skilled men to run them. So the monarchy's 298 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 1: back blunders back and Christmass back to Huzza. Things should 299 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:29,119 Speaker 1: have been good, right whoa not so much? Act three 300 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:34,200 Speaker 1: Fighting the Silver Bullet. In sixteen sixty three, Samuel Peeps, 301 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:37,439 Speaker 1: the famous diary writer, a guy who was everywhere in 302 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:41,479 Speaker 1: the seventeenth century, toured the mince facilities. This was just 303 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,680 Speaker 1: after Blundo set up shop. Some of the machines were 304 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,400 Speaker 1: meant to be secret, but Peeps was a man who 305 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:51,199 Speaker 1: knows some people. He later becomes one of Newton's closest friends. 306 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: We were sharing this method of making new money from 307 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:58,120 Speaker 1: the beginning to the end, which is so pretty. They 308 00:21:58,160 --> 00:21:59,880 Speaker 1: say that this way is more charged to the king 309 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,320 Speaker 1: in the old way, but it is meter freeer from 310 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:05,439 Speaker 1: clipping or counterfeiting. The putting of the words upon the 311 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:07,240 Speaker 1: edge is not to be done without an engine of 312 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: the charge, and noise that no counterfeit will venture upon, 313 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,399 Speaker 1: and it employs as many men as the old and 314 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,680 Speaker 1: speedy for the next thirty years. The Mint used these 315 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: machines to make the coins when they made the coins, 316 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:23,240 Speaker 1: which wasn't an all the time kind of thing. If 317 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,880 Speaker 1: you want a sense of what made Peep so giddy, 318 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:32,160 Speaker 1: listen to Chris Barker describe how they worked. The Mint 319 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:34,719 Speaker 1: will get the raw bullion coming in and then they 320 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: will melt down the gold and silver and they will 321 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:41,399 Speaker 1: cast them out into thin strips to get them to 322 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,359 Speaker 1: the correct thickness for coining. The next part of the 323 00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 1: processes you put them through a machinery which actually blanks them. 324 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:52,440 Speaker 1: So you're getting the blank discs out of that strip 325 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,879 Speaker 1: of metal, and they'll be weighed to make sure that 326 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:58,880 Speaker 1: the correct weight, and then you've got a sufficient blank 327 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,000 Speaker 1: and ready for processing. You will end up striking the 328 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:06,920 Speaker 1: coin using something called screw press, a ginormous t shape. 329 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: The blank was sandwiched between the dyes which carried the images. 330 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:13,800 Speaker 1: One was on the end of the tea and one 331 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,520 Speaker 1: was on the anvil. Two strong men would turn the 332 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:23,399 Speaker 1: screw press, wishing the blank in between the person you're 333 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: gonna reserve your sympathy for as a gentleman who's doing 334 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:27,320 Speaker 1: the putting the blanks on and flicking the finished coin 335 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,480 Speaker 1: all or off, because they've had their fingers crushed repeatedly 336 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: by having several tons descend on them as they're trying 337 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 1: to put blanks and flicked finished coins off. Finally you 338 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:50,680 Speaker 1: get a finished coin after that striking process. The smaller 339 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: coins had a milled grooved edge, and the larger coins 340 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 1: had a phrase decks at tutaman, which was Latin for 341 00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:01,639 Speaker 1: a decoration and a safeguard. Fun fact, this phrase was 342 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 1: on the coins until two thousand seventeen when the new 343 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:08,360 Speaker 1: pound coin was introduced and the machines did do what 344 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 1: Blondo promised they would. It was harder to clip a 345 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 1: machine mild coin, and it was harder to counterfeit them, 346 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:21,360 Speaker 1: and yet clipping and counterfeiting persisted. In fact, they got worse. 347 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 1: Why because the Treasury never recalled the old hand hammered coins. Honestly, 348 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:31,640 Speaker 1: it is exactly like the scene in foulter Geist when 349 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:34,359 Speaker 1: Craig T. Nelson is all, you moved the cemetery, but 350 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: you left the bodies, didn't you. And just like in 351 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:41,080 Speaker 1: foulter geist. The old coins caused all kinds of problems. 352 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:44,880 Speaker 1: This basically left two sets of coinage in the country, 353 00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:48,640 Speaker 1: the good new machine mild coins and the bad old 354 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:53,280 Speaker 1: hand hammered coins, and both were legal tender. Silver was 355 00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:56,280 Speaker 1: still being clipped off the old coins and much the 356 00:24:56,359 --> 00:25:00,200 Speaker 1: time leaving the country to be sold elsewhere. Counter Fit 357 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,119 Speaker 1: coins flourished because your basic coiners could still do a 358 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:07,639 Speaker 1: brisk business knocking out messy hand hammered coins. Meanwhile, some 359 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,080 Speaker 1: clever if you like William Chaloner had figured out how 360 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 1: to fake these supposedly unfakeable coins. Compounding the problem. People merchants, 361 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:22,880 Speaker 1: especially tended to hoard the good coins. Chris Barker, You've 362 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,639 Speaker 1: got these brand new, lovely regular coins. What are you 363 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,320 Speaker 1: going to do. If you're a normal individual who sees 364 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,000 Speaker 1: these coming into coming into them through the banks and 365 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:35,439 Speaker 1: through their change. You're not going to use and spend 366 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,200 Speaker 1: those brand new coins. You're going to hold them because 367 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:40,199 Speaker 1: you know they have a good value. So if you're 368 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:42,760 Speaker 1: slightly and scrupulous, what you'll do is you melt down 369 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:44,760 Speaker 1: the good coins because you know exactly the way, you 370 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 1: know exactly the fineness. You can create bullion, which you 371 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:53,040 Speaker 1: can then sell onto the continent as a profit. The 372 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:56,120 Speaker 1: price of silver had recently gone up in some markets, 373 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,639 Speaker 1: meaning that silver was worth more as buoy on the 374 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,280 Speaker 1: raw metal basically in continental Europe than it was as 375 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:07,359 Speaker 1: face value coins in England. This is what's called arbitrage, 376 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:10,720 Speaker 1: which is basically exploiting the difference in price commodities fetch 377 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:15,200 Speaker 1: in different markets for a profit. So English silver is 378 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:19,240 Speaker 1: being sold for continental gold, leaving only the bad, old, 379 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:22,119 Speaker 1: degraded coins in the hands of the people, and by 380 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,560 Speaker 1: the sixteen nineties it was estimated that only one out 381 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:29,359 Speaker 1: of every two hundred coins was a machine milled coin. 382 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,399 Speaker 1: The rest were old and busted and below weight or 383 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,959 Speaker 1: just straight up fake. What all of this added up 384 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,679 Speaker 1: to the clipping the counterfeiting the arbitrage markets was that 385 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: there was a serious shortage of silver, and the longer 386 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: the old coins stayed in circulation, the longer clippers and 387 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:51,640 Speaker 1: coiners stayed in operation, and the supply of silver coins 388 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 1: perpetually shrank. By now, the stock of real silver coins 389 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:58,960 Speaker 1: from the pennies to the crowns had dwindled almost to 390 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,119 Speaker 1: the point of extinct. That might explain why the coffee 391 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: has made took your penny. She didn't know when she'd 392 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:09,879 Speaker 1: see another. The situation became more problematic after the so 393 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 1: called Glorious Revolution of which removed the Catholic King James 394 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,600 Speaker 1: the Second from the throne and put his Protestant daughter 395 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 1: Mary and her husband, the Dutch Prince William of Orange 396 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:27,920 Speaker 1: on it. The new regime needed new coins. These are 397 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: a representation of royal authority and royal power even back then. 398 00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:34,080 Speaker 1: Still for a lot of people in rural area, is 399 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 1: the only sort of representation that they would have of 400 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:42,200 Speaker 1: the monarchy. You want to have this image of authority 401 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 1: coming across by your coinage, not you don't. You don't 402 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,080 Speaker 1: want to be represented at home and abroad by a 403 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,199 Speaker 1: coinage that is it's such poor condition that you can 404 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:53,880 Speaker 1: barely stand musta. But it wasn't just about how things 405 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,560 Speaker 1: looked again, the coin is the representation of the monarch. 406 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: If it's busted, folks might start one, or if the 407 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: monarchy is busted too. If you go boil it back 408 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,119 Speaker 1: down to the basics, think about what a coin is 409 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:08,440 Speaker 1: and why we actually have any designs on a coin 410 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,440 Speaker 1: at all. The design is on there to show that 411 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:14,520 Speaker 1: this piece of metal, this this piece of silver is 412 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:16,480 Speaker 1: of a given value, in a given weight, and as 413 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:19,600 Speaker 1: royal approval. You know it's got the seal of Royalty 414 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:21,199 Speaker 1: on it. Therefore you know you can trust it, and 415 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 1: you know you can accept it. And this gets us 416 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:28,840 Speaker 1: to the heart of what a currency really is. Trust. 417 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,159 Speaker 1: It's an agreement at this moment in history, it's an 418 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,160 Speaker 1: agreement that this shilling weighs this amount of silver because 419 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:39,560 Speaker 1: the king or queen really Parliament says it does. The 420 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,080 Speaker 1: marks on the coins were a shorthand for the value 421 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:47,520 Speaker 1: they represented, but also represented the authority that guaranteed that value. 422 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:50,760 Speaker 1: So if the people don't trust the currency, if the 423 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,520 Speaker 1: people can't agree that this penny is worth a dish 424 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 1: of coffee, then the people have a problem and the 425 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,640 Speaker 1: government has an even bigger problem. This is also why 426 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 1: the punishment for counterfeiting or clipping was so severe, public 427 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 1: disemboweling and head on a spike severe. These were socially 428 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 1: and economically destabilizing crimes that hacked at the authority of 429 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:20,480 Speaker 1: the government. In William Lowndes, the Secretary of the Treasury, 430 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,080 Speaker 1: wrote to the country's brightest thinkers to ask them what 431 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:27,480 Speaker 1: to do, including Isaac Newton, who was still lecturing to 432 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:31,960 Speaker 1: the walls up in Cambridge. Economics as a discipline hadn't 433 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:35,160 Speaker 1: really been invented yet, so Lowndes was casting his net 434 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:39,600 Speaker 1: pretty wide for solutions. Newton, like pretty much everyone else, 435 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,560 Speaker 1: had the same answer. Recall all the old bad coins, 436 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,280 Speaker 1: make them no longer legal tender, and remnt them duh. 437 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,040 Speaker 1: Newton also suggested that the Treasury make the intrinsic and 438 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 1: extrinsic values of the money the same. The intrinsic value 439 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 1: of the coin was its value on the market. The 440 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,800 Speaker 1: extrinsic was the face you. By making those the same 441 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 1: and reducing the silver content and devaluing the currency in 442 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:07,800 Speaker 1: the short term, it would keep people from being able 443 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:10,360 Speaker 1: to make money off melting it down and selling it 444 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 1: in another market. The Parliament didn't agree to that kind 445 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,560 Speaker 1: of currency manipulation, although they probably should have. You go 446 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:24,240 Speaker 1: too far, Newton too far? Anyway, it shouldn't have taken Newton, philosopher, 447 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:28,000 Speaker 1: John Locke, architects or Christopher Wren, East India Company governor, 448 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: Sir Josiah Child, and a bunch of other prominent people 449 00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:35,800 Speaker 1: to convince Parliament, but it sort of did. In late 450 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:43,360 Speaker 1: Parliament finally agreed. So gone are all these medieval thin pieces, 451 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 1: and we've instead of replaced with you know, shiny, new thick, 452 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 1: machine struck coins that look magnificent. That's that's what they 453 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:55,280 Speaker 1: decided to go for with the great recoinage of It 454 00:30:55,360 --> 00:31:00,240 Speaker 1: was going to be expensive, very expensive, because of how 455 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 1: degraded the coinage was. It would take three old coins 456 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,520 Speaker 1: to make two new coins. The treasury would need to 457 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,160 Speaker 1: make up that lost silver from somewhere, and it's not 458 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:11,360 Speaker 1: like England had a ton of silver mines kicking around. 459 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:16,080 Speaker 1: Not to mention, England was also broke, like invent the 460 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,440 Speaker 1: national debt broke, but more on that later. In addition 461 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,240 Speaker 1: to fighting an expensive war with France, one of the 462 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 1: knock on effects of the silver shortage was that people 463 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: tended to pay their taxes in bad coin. This meant 464 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 1: that the treasury was being shorted, taking in coin that 465 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 1: didn't weigh as much as its face value said it did, 466 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,800 Speaker 1: and therefore wasn't worth as much. But the recoinage was 467 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,280 Speaker 1: the only way to stop the loss of silver from 468 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 1: the country. Confound the coiners and clippers, William Shalloner among them, 469 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:48,720 Speaker 1: and shore up the country's fledgling financial institutions. Parliament passed 470 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: the Recoinage Act on January and the melting commenced the 471 00:31:55,640 --> 00:32:03,160 Speaker 1: very next day. But if anyone thought that this whole 472 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:05,520 Speaker 1: thing was going to be easy, and based on the 473 00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: way Newton was offered the Warden Gig, at least some 474 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:13,960 Speaker 1: people did well. Nothing considerable coined of the new and 475 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: now only current stamp. Of course, such a scarcity that 476 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:23,720 Speaker 1: tumults are everyday feared. Join me next time on Newton's 477 00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: Law to find out exactly how Isaac Newton, that prickly 478 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:36,600 Speaker 1: genius saved England. Basically. Newton's Law is a production of 479 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. It's written and hosted by Me Linda 480 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 1: Rodriguez mccrobie. Our senior producer is Ryan Murdoch. Our producer 481 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:49,160 Speaker 1: is Emily Marinoff. Our executive producer is Jason English. Original 482 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 1: music by Alice McCoy with editing help from Mary Do, 483 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: Sound design and mixing by Jeremy Thal, Research in fact 484 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:00,240 Speaker 1: checking by me and Jocelyn Sears. Voice act being in 485 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:04,040 Speaker 1: this episode by Robbie Jack. Special thanks to Chris Barker. 486 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:09,719 Speaker 1: Special thanks to Mangesh Hatikudur and Fineflex Sound Studios. Our 487 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,600 Speaker 1: show logo is designed by Lucy Condania. Thanks for listening, 488 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 1: Thank you, Emily. Bye.