1893 text
Peter Blondeau, medallist, was invited to London from Paris in 1649, and appointed by the Council of State to coin their money; but the moneyers succeeded in driving him out of the country. Soon after the Restoration he returned, and was appointed engineer to the mint.
This text comes from a footnote on a diary entry in the 1893 edition edited by Henry B. Wheatley.
2 Annotations
First Reading
vincent • Link
more information on M. Blondeau and his minting machinery "...Milled
Pedro • Link
Pierre Blondeau.
In 1662 the Treasury had tried to alter the downward slide by introducing coins with milled edges, employing the inventor of the milling machinery already in use in France, Pierre Blondeau. But the move only served to exacerbate the problem, because the authorities in London had not taken the precaution of withdrawing the old currency as they introduced the new. Unsrupulous moneyers and goldsmiths (of which there were many) had secreted the new coins out of circulation, melted them down and sold them as bullion in Holland and other parts of the continent where the metal commanded a higher price than that set by the Treasury.
(Isaac Newton, The Last Sorcerer by Michael White)