The Mint

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

1809 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint · Drawings and Prints

In the late 13th century the Royal Mint moved into the Tower of London and from this home produced 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

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

Date

1809

Medium

Hand-colored etching and aquatint

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959