The Mint

Auguste Charles Pugin|John Bluck|Rudolph Ackermann, London|Thomas Rowlandson

February 1, 1809 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint · Drawings and Prints

In the late thirteenth century the Royal Mint moved into the Tower of London and produced, from there, most of Britain's coinage. Pugin and Rowlandson here show workers feeding metal blanks into presses that hold dies able to stamp beyween sixty and eighty coins a minute. In 1810, shortly after this print was made, a new Mint, equiped with steam-powered machinery, opened on Little Tower Hill just outside the fortress's walls.

Artist

Auguste Charles Pugin|John Bluck|Rudolph Ackermann, London|Thomas Rowlandson

Date

February 1, 1809

Medium

Hand-colored etching and aquatint

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917