by which it appears that the late war has raised the value of gold, and set the market price of the metals in Holland at 1 to 14.785.
But now (in June 1762) I learn, that the course of new ducats from the mint in the Holland-market, is got up to 5f. 5½st. In[In] this case, 71.687 ducats are worth 378.1 florins; by which number dividing 5120, as before, you have 13.541 aces of fine gold for the florin.
If we seek here the proportion between the gold and silver, we must state thus. If a florin in ducats contain 13.541 aces of fine gold, and a florin in silver coin contain as above 200.21 aces of fine silver, then 13.541 : 200.21 :: 1 : 14.785. So the effect of this war has already been to raise the value of gold 1.12 per cent. above what it was esteemed to be, when the riders were coined.
The proportion as to riders is, as before, 1 to 14.62.
Which is a rise upon the value of gold of 1.12 per cent.
The present proportion as to ducats is 1 to 14.785.
14.62 : 100 :: 14.785 : 101.12.
I must farther observe upon this subject, that although we have seen that the ducats which have circulated for ever so short a while, when bought at 5f. 4⅜st. produce for the florin 13.685, (which is more than is produced by the new coined ducats fresh from the mint) we are not from this to conclude, that the former are intrinsically a cheaper currency than the latter. I have been at all the pains imaginable to weigh these ducats against others fresh from the mint; and also to compare their weight with what it ought to be by the regulation; and I have constantly found near ¼ per cent. difference between them. This is entirely owing to the nature of the coin. The ducat has a large surface in proportion to its weight; it carries a very sharp impression, full of small points; the cord about the edges is exceedingly rough; so that the least rubbing, breaking off those small points, diminishes the weight of the piece[piece] near ¼ per cent. which is clear loss, not only to the proprietor, but to the state, and to all the world. Besides, those who are obliged to go to the mint for new ducats, are supposed to bear the greatest weight of the coinage of a piece which, having no legal denomination, is left afterwards to seek its own value, according to that of the metals at the time.
The intention of this minute detail is in order to calculate the real par of the coins of Europe.
As I have entred into this minute detail of the weight of fine silver and fine gold contained in the Dutch florins, with a view to facilitate the calculation of the par of the metals contained in the coins of Holland, and those of other nations; I must next mention the proportion between the aces in which we have expressed the weight of the Dutch specie, and the grains in use in some of the principal nations with which they trade: These I take to be England, France, and Germany.