Birmingham Mint presses and six planchet presses for making blanks from strip metal. These were installed at the Bath Street works, and in that year trade tokens were struck for use in Australia. In 1851 coins were struck for Chile using the letter "H" as a mintmark. The same year copper planchets were made for the Royal Mint to make into pennies, halfpennies, farthings, half-farthings and quarter-farthings. In 1852 the Mint won a contract to produce a new series of coins for France. In this the Mint pioneered the minting of bronze. Ralph Heaton III (son of Ralph II) took key workers
Ernests Blanks Ernests Blanks Ernests Blanks ( in Braslava, Valmiera County, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire – 31 January 1972 in Palma, Majorca, Spain), publicist, the first to publicly advocate for Latvia's independence in 1917. Ernests Blanks was editorial writer of "Dzimtenes Atbalss" (Fatherland's Echo). At a time when others discussed Latvia's and, the other Baltic countries, autonomy, Ernests Blanks dared to demand sovereignty for Latvia. Already on Ernests Blanks unequivocally wrote: "Our ideal is a sovereign Latvia." After the state of Latvia had been established he reminded that the Latvians had regained their long lost freedom. For some time he was