SIR ISAAC NEWTON: WARDEN AND MASTER OF THE MINT
This extract is based on my article for the November 2001 issue of The Numismatist, which received a Heath Literary Award (Bronze). Since then, I placed several reviews of Thomas Levenson's Newton and the Counterfeiter (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009). Levenson teaches science journalism at MIT and has won several Emmy awards for his PBS NOVA documentaries.
Sir Issac Newton served for 30 years as Warden and Master of the British Royal Mint. His colleagues called him fearful, cautious, suspicious, insidious, ambitious, execessively covetous of praise, and impatient of contradiction. Even his relatives and his true friends were modest in their praise of Newton. Physically sound in his life, he died at 84. He had lost only one tooth, still had much of his hair, and read without glasses. Yet, he was a hypochondriac, suffering from illnesses and diseases that he treated with medicines he made for himself.
In the 1690s, much of the silver coinage had been in circulation for a hundred years or more. Moreover, most of this medieval money was clipped. Silver coins were legal tender by "tale" or count. A worn and clipped silver shilling was legally the same as a new coin. (Gold legally passed by weight, not by count, and there was no incentive to clip gold coins.) Counterfeiting was easy because so many silver coins were worn beyond recognition and were trimmed small.
In 1695, Isaac Newton served on a Regency Council with John Locke and Sir Christopher Wren, among others, to consider the problem. Newton and William Lowndes, Secretary of the Treasury, both favored issuing new coins that were devalued by 20%. Reducing the size or purity of the new coins would bring them in line with the statistical norm of the circulating coinage. The Bank of England and John Locke objected and their arguments held sway. The solution was to create a new currency of "milled" (machine-struck) silver coins.
In order to make the new currency work, all of the old silver would have to be called in and replaced. On December 19, 1695, King William III proclaimed that in 1696, the old coinage could not be lawful money at face value, starting with crowns and half crowns in January, shillings in February, sixpences in March, and the rest in April. The exception was for the paying of taxes and loans to the King. Old coins came in from the wealthy, but the middle class and poor were involved only second hand. At the same time, production at the Mint floundered. In the Spring and Summer of 1696, simple bartering reappeared at a level not seen since the Middle Ages. Then, Newton arrived. He assumed his duties as the king's warden on May 2, 1696.
Every historian agrees that Newton's unfailingly honesty was the key to his success at the Mint. The Master, Thomas Neale, was lazy and rarely bothered to visit the Mint. Netwon showed up for work at 4:00 am and also made the night shift. He actually occupied the lodgings for the Warden, which no Warden had done in anyone's memory. Watching the coiners, he began time-and-motion studies. Analyzing the data, he found ways to improve efficiency. By June, the output of new coins increased ten times over to £4.7 million. Total output in all denominations weighed 3000 pounds per day.
Newton reveled in his time. He worked 16 hours a day and investigated every detail of production. He also researched the historical documents that enabled and empowered the officers of the Mint. He wrote long legal arguments, establishing and expanding his powers as Warden. He studied all of the economics books he could find. In 1696, he issued a "State of the Mint" report, denouncing the officers and ministers who lined their pockets at the expense of the King and the people. Newton applied his own expertise in metallurgy to confront the suppliers to the Mint, renegotiating their contracts to the king's favor. As the king's Warden, Newton also pursued counterfeiters.
Newton estimated that 20% of the coins taken in were counterfeit. Counterfeiting was treason, punishable by death by drawing and quartering. As gruesome as the penalties were, the courts were not arbitrary or capricious. The rights of free men had a long tradition in England and the crown had to prove its case to a jury. The law also allowed for plea bargaining. Convictions of the most flagrant criminals could be maddeningly impossible to achieve. Newton was equal to the task.
The full story is told in Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World’s Greatest Scientist by Thomas Levenson. Professor Levenson’s narratives in this book have the inclusive force of videos. He puts you on the teeming streets of London, inside the sweat and smoke of the Mint, down the dank alleys and into the rowdy, bawdy taverns where criminals swap and wager.
The greatest of the counterfeiters was William Chaloner. Himself a talented and perhaps complex man, Chaloner thought himself the equal of Newton, which he was not. (In fact, even Einstein was not.) It was only a matter of time before Chaloner came to the gallows. Levenson cites a rare posthumous biography of William Chaloner,perhaps largely fictitious. It is from that snapshot that Levenson paints his portrait of a master schemer, a clever and patient contriver, who “funned” the Crown, its Mint, and its Bank, as well as Parliament, out of ten of thousands of pounds.
In his last years, William Chaloner lived like a gentleman. He managed a string of criminal enterprises including the counterfeiting both of coins and banknotes. Arrested at one point, he won freedom for himself by informing on his own employees. He set up phony conspiracies of Catholics and then turned in the hapless conspirators. Making high friends, some of his petitions to Parliament on the Mint and coinages gained favor. All the time, he struck false coins, or so Newton eventually proved in court. On March 23, 1699, Chaloner was hanged, drawn, and quartered.
The Master of the Mint, Thomas Neale, died on December 23, 1699. In February 1700, Newton received the post. Technically, the Master was less senior than the Warden. However, the Master's "indenture" (or "contract") paid him for each coin struck. Out of that payment, he paid other contractors. Newton's average income was about £2150 to a maximum of about £3500. It is difficult to translate this into modern terms -- Newton could never own a computer or drive a car -- but his income was over a million modern American dollars per year in terms of his standard of living.
The Act of Union required Newton's attention. Making Scotland part of England included bringing the Edinburgh Mint in line with the standards of the London Tower. The Edinburgh Mint heated its caldrons with pit coal which burned hotter than the coal used in London; copper was lost in the alloying. The Scots simply added a dash more copper to make the mix come out .925 fine. This unquantified artistry was unacceptable to Newton. However, in the end, he relented.
Once the Mint was under control, Newton widened his activites. He was elected to Parliament in 1701. (He ran twice more, but was not elected.) He became president of the Royal Society on November 30, 1703. Queen Anne knighted him on April 16, 1705.
In 1720, Newton commended one Mr. Orlebar for the creation of a bimetallic token for the Royal Navy, intended to replace the paper chits that were widely forged. In 1722, King George I granted a patent to William Wood to produce copper coins. We know them as the Rosa Americana and Hibernia issues. Newton defined some of the terms of the contract, assuring safeguards to the crown. He also served as comptroller of Wood's mint in Bristol though he appointed a deputy to carry out the work for him. Newton also filed several reports on the wide values of silver coinage in the American colonies.
Most men were elevated by accepting an appointment to the Royal Mint. Newton raised the status of the institution he joined because his was the greater reputation.
