Crown of William III
1696 ・ silver ・ 17th century ・ Tower of London mint
The crown of 1696 — the year the Great Recoinage began, calling in the clipped and worn old hammered silver at face value and striking it again by machine. It was a state undertaking of enormous cost, carried through along the lines of Locke's argument for holding the old parity. At the Mint where the work was done was Isaac Newton, newly arrived as Warden. The even edge of machine striking let clipping be caught at a glance. A piece from the year in which science and machinery remade the credit of money.