Having recently completed his apprenticeship as both moneyer and smith, Trapps complains that the Company of Moneyers refuse to pay him more than labourer's wages of two shillings a day for smith's work, and further claim it is customary for new moneyers not to receive a share in the Company's profits for the first month after the end of their apprenticeship. According to C.E. Challis, 'Mint Officials and Moneyers of the Stuart Period', British Numismatic Journal 59 (1989), p. 157-197, Trapps had been employed by the Mint as a moneyer from 1692/3 to c. 1700 (p. 190). His name returns in the Mint Accounts for 1 January 1714/5 to 31 December 1715 where he is listed as a smith.