Online Encyclopedia

BULLION

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 791 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BULLION  , a

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term applied to the gold and
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silver of the mines brought to a standard of purity . The word appears in an
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English act of 1336 in the French form " puissent sauvement porter a
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les exchanges ou bullion . . . argent en
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plate, vessel d'argent, &c."; and apparently it is connected with
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bouillon, the sense of " boiling " being transferred in English to the melting of metal, so that bullion in the passage quoted meant " melting-house " or " mint." The first recorded instance of the use of the word for precious metal as such in the mass is in an act of 1451 . From the use of gold and silver as a
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medium of
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exchange, it followed that they should approximate in all nations to a
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common degree of fineness; and though this is not
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uniform even in coins, yet the proportion of alloy in silver, and of carats alloy to carats
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fine in gold, has been reduced to infinitesimal differences in the bullion of commerce, and is a prime element of value even in gold and silver plate, jewelry, and other articles of manufacture . Bullion, whether in the form of coins, or of bars and ingots stamped, is subject, as a general
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rule of the
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London market, not only to
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weight but to assay, and receives a corresponding value .

End of Article: BULLION
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