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me with regard to this I will not fail to write you.
I am,
My dear Sir, Yours very truly (St) Ralph Heaton
Thor Graham Esq. FRO.
4.
Master of A. M. Mint.
H.
My dear Sir,
The Mint, Birmingham.
21st May 1868.
Referring to your letter of the 11th instant, and my reply thereto, I think perhaps you would like some details of what has really happened in the disposal of Coining presses, when no longer required by the Owners, this information now I have returned home I am enabled to supply.
We bought the Presses which the Dutch Government offered for sale some time ago, and which we have now at work here, (and from what we have heard, we believe are of better construction than those sent to Hong Kong) for about £70 each, whilst those sold at W. Boulton's Soho Mint - which are of the same construction as yours at work in the Royal Mint did not realize £60 each, although the price for them was £360 each. Should the same fate attend our new ones and the presses at Hong Kong, the price obtained for them would scarcely pay the cost of packing & freight to this Country, for this reason I am still of opinion that the most profitable course would be to send them to any place where there may be a Mint, if they are only to be kept in stock to replace others that may fail through any accident.
I thought these figures might be useful in enabling you to judge by what has already happened, what might occur again.
I am, My dear Mr Graham,
Yours very faithfully
Ralph Heaton
Tho: Graham Esq : F.R.S.
Royal Mint, London.