Mestrelle or Meystrell

The numismatic term for the week is "Mestrelle or Meystrell". A French engraver who introduced the method of striking coins that we call today `milled coinage'. Elizabeth I experimented with coins struck on a screw press between 1561 and 1571. Very neat workmanship and of a vastly superior quality than hammered coins. But the Mint employees feared that this new machinery would put them out of a job and Mestrelle was dismissed. In 1578 he was hung for counterfeiting!