184

WEAR OF COIN.

CHAP. XXIII.

or curiosity than to put it in circulation. Theless additional loss on the sixpences may be ac-counted for from the circumstance that most ofthose pieces had by wear become so thin that theywould have broken in two when they had lost morethan forty per cent, of their standard weight, andinstead of being worth, as bullion, their originalvalue of sixpence, were not worth more than three-pence halfpenny. The shillings, as being the com-monest pieces, are the coins on which the greatestreliance may be placed in any calculation. Theirvalue far exceeded that of all the other pieces, andmay therefore be assumed as the fittest scale ofdepreciation by wear.

The loss on the shillings in this last experimentwas at the rate of about five per cent, in ten years,which agrees with what has been before estimatedas the loss on the new coinage since 1816, or aboutone part in two hundred in each year.

It is to be observed that this wear on the silvercoin between 1787 and 1798, was a proof of thedegree of loss produced on that particular descrip-tion of silver coin which was in circulation at thatperiod. Now every one whose recollection carrieshim back to that time will bear testimony to thefact that the shillings by wear had almost all lostthe faintest traces of any impression having beenmade upon them. No legend was visible, norcould the outlines of the head enable the reignto be determined. They were for the most part