The effect on the ratio of this increased relative and absolute amount of gold was, however, considerably diminished by the increasing favour with which gold came to be regarded for currency purposes, from the end of the seventeenth century onwards. In general terms this process or tendency in favour of gold continued through the first sixty years of the eighteenth century, at which time the proportion of gold to the production of the two metals had risen as high as 40 per cent., whereas in 1600 it had only formed 17.2 per cent. of the total.
PRODUCTION OF THE PRECIOUS METALS, 1660-1893
From 1760, however, such relative preponderance
of gold was not maintained. It gradually sank back until, by the beginning of the present century, it had come to form only a little over 23 per cent. of the total. From 1820 to 1840 a recovery took place, but it was not until the Californian gold discoveries that the second great disturbance in the relative production of gold and silver took place; such a disturbance, i.e., as can be fitly compared with that which the sixteenth century witnessed.
| Period. | Annual Production of Gold. | Annual Production of Silver. | Percentage of Gold to Total. | Percentage of Silver to Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1661-1680 | £1,291,750 | £3,134,150 | 29.2 | 70.7 |
| 1681-1700 | 1,501,700 | 3,179,650 | 31.1 | 67.9 |
| 1701-1720 | 1,788,400 | 3,253,750 | 35.5 | 64.5 |
| 1721-1740 | 2,661,650 | 3,988,600 | 40.0 | 60.0 |
| 1741-1760 | 3,433,100 | 5,038,200 | 40.5 | 59.5 |
| 1761-1780 | 2,888,350 | 6,201,550 | 31.8 | 68.2 |
| 1781-1800 | 2,481,700 | 8,131,300 | 23.4 | 76.6 |
| 1801-1810 | 2,480,000 | 8,002,650 | 23.7 | 76.3 |
| 1811-1820 | 1,596,100 | 4,966,950 | 24.7 | 75.3 |
| 1821-1830 | 1,983 150 | 4,075,950 | 32.4 | 67.6 |
| 1831-1840 | 2,830,300 | 5,278,600 | 34.5 | 65.5 |
| 1841-1850 | 7,638,800 | 6,867,650 | 52.1 | 47.9 |
| 1851-1855 | 27,815,400 | 8,019,350 | 77.6 | 22.4 |
| 1856-1860 | 28,149,950 | 8,235,950 | 77.4 | 22.6 |
| 1861-1865 | 25,816,300 | 9,965,400 | 72.1 | 27.9 |
| 1866-1870 | 27,256,950 | 11,984,800 | 69.4 | 30.6 |
| 1871-1875 | 24,250,000 | 17,250,000 | 58.5 | 41.5 |
| 1876 | 23,150,000 | 18,250,000 | 55.9 | 44.1 |
| 1877 | 25,050,000 | 19,350,000 | 56.4 | 43.6 |
| 1878 | 25,950,000 | 19,750,000 | 56.8 | 43.2 |
| 1879 | 23,350,000 | 19,050,000 | 55.1 | 44.9 |
| 1880 | 22,800,000 | 19,100,000 | 54.4 | 45.6 |
| 1881 | 22,450,000 | 19,800,000 | 53.1 | 46.9 |
| 1882 | 21,450,000 | 20,900,000 | 50.7 | 49.3 |
| 1883 | 20,750,000 | 20,800,000 | 49.9 | 50.1 |
| 1884 | 21,750,000 | 21,850,000 | 49.9 | 50.1 |
| 1885 | 21,750,000 | 21,850,000 | 49.9 | 50.1 |
| 1886 | 22,450,000 | 20,300,000 | 52.5 | 47.5 |
| 1887 | 22,050,000 | 21,950,000 | 50.1 | 49.9 |
| 1888 | 22,950,000 | 23,850,000 | 49.0 | 51.0 |
| 1889 | 24,600,000 | 26,750,000 | 47.9 | 52.1 |
| 1890 | 24,360,000 | 26,620,000 | 47.8 | 52.2 |
| 1891 | 29,000,000 | 36,567,629 | 42.4 | 57.6 |
| 1892 | 30,164,536 | 40,668,247 | 42.5 | 57.5 |
| 1893 | 32,066,591 | 42,963,027 | 42.7 | 57.3[D] |
[D] The figures for the last three years are taken from the Report of the Hon. R.E. Preston, director of the United States Mint, 1893 (Report on the Production of the Precious Metals, pp. 274-5). See ibid. for a most carefully compiled table of the production of the precious metals from 1493 to 1893, differing from the above in material details.
As far as this relative production is concerned, the period, 1660-1840, is one of gradual and not abnormal variation, neither small nor inconsiderable in effect, but certainly not revolution-working, as had been the case in the sixteenth century with American silver, and as was to be in the nineteenth century with Californian and Australian gold, and in our own days with American silver for the second time.
With regard to the absolute production—gold shows a rise up to 1760, then a steady decline to 1820, followed by a second rise up to 1840. In the case of silver the decline in the absolute amount was steady from 1600 to 1680, then ensued a steady and strong rise to 1800, followed by an abrupt drop in the second decade of the present century, and then by a strong and steady recovery, commencing from 1830 and continuing until the present.
WIDE EFFECT OF MINT LAWS