Catalogue description Coinage: Imperial (Silver Exchange 1817)

The Great Silver Recoinage of 1696, as it was known, brought about a considerable reduction in the amount of the silver circulation. By 1717, there only remained in circulation the coins whose worn condition made it unprofitable for them to be converted into bullion; and from then onwards to the end of the eighteenth century, the amount of silver in circulation sank lower and lower, and coins became reduced to complete blanks by long wear. In 1798, the coining of silver in the Mint was stopped.

Recommendations for the amendment of the silver currency were made in 1816 by the Privy Council Committee on Coin, and those recommendations were carried into effect by an Act of Parliament passed on 22 June, 1816. That Act provided for the silver coinage to be a token or subsidiary currency for domestic use; the number of shillings coined from the pound troy of 925 standard silver to be increased from 62 to 66; and the validity of silver coins for legal tender to be limited to forty shillings. In pursuance of the Act, the ban imposed in 1798 on the coinage of silver in the Mint was lifted, and new silver coins were minted for exchange for the old silver coin then in circulation.

Four principal and sixteen auxiliary exchange stations were set up in London and its vicinity, the auxiliary stations being under the superintendence of Commissariat officers seconded to assist the Mint. Those stations were assisted by the banks in London and Westminster. In the provinces, the exchange was undertaken by bankers and other persons, and by Commissariat officers all of whom were appointed to act as receivers of the old coin. Inspectors to examine the old coin were also appointed to assist at the London and Provincial stations. The issue of the new coins and the withdrawal of the old for recoinage began in February, 1817. By a Proclamation of the 1 March, 1817, all the old coins were demonetised with three months grace, during which time the old coins could be paid in at face value; and by the beginning of June, 1817, most of the old coin had been received by the Mint and recoined.