Opinion is that there was a quite regular to prepay for lead to be delivered
at York in the early 16th cent. I suppose that many mines trading with York
had little or no trouble in supplying lead without any failures, therefore
merchants would have few misgivings ("futures market" is an unfortunate phrase
to pick). What is interesting that the failure of some mines to deliver, gives
an insight into what was happening, or not, at the mine, and gives a picture
of the market in general.
Ian Spensley
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