A handwriting challenge ... [solved]

Hello all,

Please have a look at this:

As you can see, I was able to transcribe almost the whole thing (less certain readings are in red). On line 4 the semicircular line over the “6” most probably means “pence”; I've seen this symbol in another, very similar context where it does, indeed, mean “pence”. If any of you have seen it as well, let me know!

But the one word that puzzles me is at the very end of line 3. I have looked so much at it now that I can't come up with any new possibility. Since the writer was short of space, it's possible that there are actually two words. The last letter is probably a “y” based on how he writes it elsewhere in the document. And you have to take into account that the word has to make sense in the context.

On the top right you see closeups of the front and back (reversed 180º) of the page. You have to train your brain to disregard the text from the other side (i.e. "Drafts") but looking at the back is useful also because you can see the end of the mystery word quite clearly.

EDIT 1: I found it ─ cutmoney !!

EDIT 2:

Now that you have solved it - seems exactly like cutmoney

These kind of situation can take 15 seconds… or two days or even more. Sometimes we just don't know. Those who transcribe ancient manuscripts will place the letters between two “†” symbols.

And as you say, when you finally see it you wonder how it was not obvious to start with. In this case, I thought “cut…” was a possibility, but I ruled out an “m” after a “t”. It became obvious only when I realized that the ending could be not only “…ny” or “…cy” but “…ey” as well. Normally, of course, it's two words, “cut money”, so that makes things more difficult.

This writer, though, a secretary of the Bank, is not easy to read at first. The initial small “s” as in “silver” is easy enough to get, but initial “r” as in “requested” would be hard to guess on its own without context. There is also something quite common at the time, the shape of the first “s” in the “ss” sequence. This was normal, and it kind of survives to this day in the German “ß” ("ss") though originally it was “sz” combined.

And the way he writes “we” / “be” / “the” ─ it looks like “wi” / “bi” / “thi”. His “e”s look like inverted “3”s, but he adds the top stroke afterwards…

Also, seems to confirm P.N. Breton's decision to include Anchor Money as a non-Canadian token under the heading of Colonies in general.  Wonderful research, as always, Camerinvs!!

It's funny that when I posted the OP I wondered whether anyone would take note of the Anchor money, and the name that came to my mind was yours, Peter…

Yes, Breton got to know that those coins were not Canadian, but he still listed them right in the middle of his work. Willey in the Canadian Numismatic Journal, December 1982, is quite blunt about past numismatists and coin collectors who were just too happy to accept these and many others as Canadian coins/tokens without any good reason. 

He cites Pridmore's catalogue (1965), which I happen to have:

I suppose the 1822 note can be found somewhere online, but as I am trying, note these Google results, before and after I corrected “eighth”:

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I was fortunate to find this because the same error “eights” is in the original text as well!