Nicholas Briot

Nicholas Briot was a renowned French coin engraver and medalist credited by some historians with inventing the coining press and known for advancing the mechanization of coin production at the Paris Mint and the English royal Tower Mint during the early 17th century.

Briot was born in 1579 to a Huguenot family known for their work as engravers in the village of Damblain, in the present-day Vosges department of the Lorraine region of France, an area historically associated with metallurgical production. Son of local merchant and medalist Didier Briot, Briot was appointed at the age of 27 as master engraver under King Louis XIII at the Paris Mint, where he served until 1625. During this period, Briot increasingly dedicated himself to the development of mechanization processes for coin engraving, publishing the pamphlet “Raisons, Moyens, et Propositions pour Faire Toutes les Monnaies du Royaume” in 1617, in which he argued for converting from the traditional hammering method of minting to a coining press and experimenting with a variety of mills and rolling machines intended to speed up production at the mint and minimize counterfeiting and coin clipping.

In 1625 Briot fl ed France for England due to fi nancial trouble with his creditors and disfavor at court and secured the support of King Charles I, who engaged him in 1626 to design a series of puncheons and dies for a set of coronation medals honoring the king. In 1632 Briot was sent to Scotland to oversee production of coinage in the capacity of Master of the Mint from 1635 to 1637, during which time he was the fi rst to introduce mechanized production of coins in Edinburgh.

During his tenure in Scotland, he also produced a series of commemorative coins dated June 18, 1633, which marked the coronation of Charles I to the Scottish throne and is the only gold coin known to have been produced in Scotland.

In January 1634 the king appointed Briot as chief engraver of the Tower Mint, granting him a regular income of £50 a year, which he continued to receive until his death. When the English Civil War erupted in 1641, the king ordered Briot to collect his minting tools from the Tower Mint, including his puncher, roller instruments, and coining presses, which he wrapped in his saddle and took with him as he fl ed to join the king in exile in York, where he was able to continue minting coins for the English king. During 1641–1645, Briot also delivered mechanized presses to his brother, Isaac, who was at that time affi liated with the Paris Mint.

Briot died on December 4, 1646, in London, leaving his second wife Esther Petau as his heir. Among his most famous works was the Dominion of the Seas medal produced in 1630 and conserved today at the British Museum in London as a testament to both his artistry as an engraver as well as his technical acumen in developing and employing superior coining machinery.