Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

A VISIT TO THE ROYAL MINT. THE GOLD MELTING ROOM. HOW MONEY IS COINED. IF you stand at the north end of the Tower Bridge, with your back to Father Thames, you will have the ancient Tower of London on your left hand and the outskirts of St. Katharine’s Docks on the other. In front of you there rises a block of old-fashioned buildings, whose gates are guarded night and day by recl-coated sentries. This is the Royal Mint, where all the money coined in England is made. Some of the operations by which money is coined are shown to privileged visitors at certain hours. But the number of people admitted at one time is only half a dozen, and in the course of the year less than 10,000 visitors enter their names in the book. For this reason the special photo- graphs which we are privileged to publish will be welcomed with interest. Leaving the Tower Hill, with its romantic associations, behind us, let us cross the road to the little postern gate, at which two police sentries are stationed. The neighbourhood, dingy as it now is, should be sacred in the eyes of every Englishman, because it is the oldest part of London. For centuries the spot upon which we are now standing was the site of the old abbey of Eastminster,' which at one time was more famous than its great rival at Westminster. Until the beginning of the nineteenth century the minting of money had been carried on in London at the Tower ever since themselves, but in the time of the Romans 1811 the sum of £250,000 was voted for the purpose of erecting the Royal Mint, and since that time various changes have been made in the buildings to enable them to cope with the enormous and in- creasing demand for coins that comes from every part of the Empire year after year. All this time, we will suppose, the police officer has been examining our credentials. We at length find ourselves in a spacious courtyard, neatly laid out with greenery. In the corners may be seen the official residences of the Deputy Master, the superintendent, the assayer, the chief clerk, and other officials who are always on the spot. The imposing structure in the centre contains the Mint Office, by which all the work of this curious colony of skilful artisans is regulated. The first thing to be done— on the principle of the famous Mrs. Glasse —is to catch your ore. I his comes into the possession of the Mint in the shape of ingots, which at busy times arrive in vans two or three times a week. After running the gauntlet of the sentinels, the vans rattle over the cobble-stones of the courtyard to the main entrance. Through this the ingots pass, and after being weighed they are stored in the strong-room until they have been assayed.