ABSTRACT
A survey of existing series constructed for gold and all coin in the late nineteenth century showed them to be deficient in one respect or another. The Bank of England and the Royal Mint provide figures from 1905 for coin in circulation, and for the total volume of silver and bronze coin respectively; people accepted these figures for the years 1905 to 1921. In the absence of any information concerning the unrecorded amounts of gold coin brought back by migrants, the assumption was made that on average they returned with the same amount as emigrants were taking out, and that any additional money was in notes, certificates, or was declared on entry. As gold coins became light through wear there was less inducement to melt them for bullion, jewellery or the arts, and the worst coins tended to remain in circulation.
