Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1636-1637 (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
3 ff. (each formerly folded as two or more leaves)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Archival history
Auctioned by Bonhams in 2016 from the collection of the late Donald John Morgan (lots 188-218).
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Bonhams; London; Purchased at auction, lot 202; 16 March 2016; 99636543602419.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
A small group of documents, 1636-1637, concerning the regulation of the manufacture and sale of copperas (ferrous sulphate), and silver mining in Cardiganshire.
They comprise: (i) a signed warrant of King Charles I to the Attorney General Sir John Bankes, received 17 July 1636, to conclude a contract between the king and English copperas makers to purchase copperas at an improved rate (f. 13); (ii) a petition to the king from Thomas Bushell, the mining entrepreneur, granted at Lindhurst, [Hampshire], 19 August 1637, asking to be granted the right to purchase copperas at a favourable price (f. 14); (iii) a further warrant from the king to Bankes, received 24 October 1637, mainly granting modifications to regulations relating to copperas to give Elizabeth, Dowager Viscountess Savage, a monopoly, but also requiring the removal of the provision for Bushell 'to have Copperis for our Mine in Wales at the former rate' (f. 15). Bushell intended to use copperas in a new process to extract silver from ore, however this process was to prove ineffective (see J. W. Gough, The Superlative Prodigall: A Life of Thomas Bushell (Bristol, 1932), p. 49). Bushell subsequently successfully petitioned the king to establish a branch of the royal mint at Aberystwyth to coin his silver, with himself as warden.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Arranged chronologically at NLW.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
English.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Folio 13 affected by damp at corners.
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.