VOCABULARY TERMS: MILLED EDGE, MILLED MONEY

Milled Edge. A smooth, raised edge, one treated by upsetting. A milled edge is required for COINING. Adjusted blanks are pre-formed into planchets by passing through an UPSETTING machine. This makes the blanks perfectly round, all burrs are removed from the edge, the edge is completely smooth and a slight rim is created. Such deburring and milling prevents jams in the coining press, insuring a smoother feeding and coining. The milling process is not to be confused with REEDING or KNURLING on the edge, as this is performed by the COLLAR during coining. See EDGE, UPSETTING.

Reference:
NE42 {1982} Doty, p 211.

Milled Money A name given to such coins as were made by the employment of the mill and screw process which superseded the hammered coins (q.v.).

Folkes states that "the maker of this milled money is reported to have been one Philip Mastrelle, a Frenchman, who eventually, however, fell into the practice of coining counterfeit money, and was convicted, and executed at Tyburn, on the 27th of January, 1569." Kenyon states that the "new process of coining, by means of the mill and screw, was introduced into England from France, apparently by a Frenchman called Eloye Mestrell." Hawkins, on the other hand, asserts that "the name of the Frenchman is unknown and the whole history of the process and its employment is involved in singular obscurity."

One thing, however, is certain, and that is that from 1561 to 1575 milled coins were made in England, but as they did not win entire approval, they were discontinued and not revived until November 5, 1662, when a warrant was issued for coining by the mill altogether.

Shakespeare alludes to the milled Sixpence in The Merry Wives of Windsor (i. 1).

For an exhaustive treatise on the early minting operations by mill and screw, see Mr. W.J. Hocking's monograph entitled Simon's Dies in the Royal Mint Museum, with Some Notes on the Early History of Coinage by Machinery, contributed to the Numismatic Chronicle (4th Series, vol. ix).

Source: Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)

Looking for the meaning of a numismatic word, or the description of a term?  Try the Newman Numismatic Portal's Numismatic Dictionary at: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/dictionary

Or if you would like a printed copy of the complete Encyclopedia, it is available. There are 1,854 terms, on 678 pages, in The Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology. Even running two a week would require more than 19 years to publish them all. If you would like an advance draft of this vital reference work it may be obtained from the author for your check of $50 sent postpaid. Dick Johnson, 139 Thompson Drive, Torrington, CT 06790.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web