IV. Experiments and observations on the various alloys, on the specific gravity, and on the comparative wear of gold. Being the substance of a report made to the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council, appointed to take into consideration the state of the coins of this Kingdom, and the present establishment and constitution of his Majesty’s Mint

Abstract

The Lords of the Committee of his Majesty’s most honourable Privy Council, appointed by his Majesty, on the 10th of February, 1798, to take into consideration the state of the coins of this kingdom, having among other circumstances remarked the considerable loss which the gold coin appeared to have sustained by wear within certain periods, and being desirous to ascertain whether this loss was occasioned by any defect, either in the quality of the standard gold or in the figure or impression of the coins, were pleased to request that Henry Cavendish, Esq. F. R. S. and myself would examine, by such experiments as should be deemed requisite, whether any of these defects really existed. Two questions were to be principally decided, 1st. Whether very soft and ductile gold, or gold made as hard as is compatible with the process of coining, suffers the most by wear, under the various circumstances of friction to which coin is subjected in the course of circulation ?