Wikipedia

Royal Mint

This article is about the official coin and bullion producer in the UK. For other uses, seeRoyal Mint (disambiguation).

TheRoyal Mintis theUnited Kingdom's officialmakerofBritish coins.It is currently located inLlantrisant,Wales,where it moved in 1968.[6]

The Royal Mint Limited
The Royal Mint
Company typeState-ownedlimited company
IndustryCoinand medal production
Foundedc. 886(origins)[1]
1279(unified system)[2]
16 July 2009(current legal structure)[3]
HeadquartersLlantrisant,Rhondda Cynon Taf,Wales
Area served
United Kingdom&British Overseas Territories
Key people
Anne Jessopp
(Chief Executive)[4]
ProductsCoins
Medals
Bullion
RevenueIncrease£1,403.5 million (2022)[5]
Increase£18 million (2022)[5]
Total assetsIncrease£72.4 million (2022)[5]
Total equityIncrease£72.4 million (2022)[5]
OwnerHM Treasury
Number of employees
900+
Websitewww.royalmint.com

Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is alimited companythat is wholly owned byHis Majesty's Treasuryand is under an exclusive contract to supply the nation's coinage. As well as minting circulating coins for the UK and international markets, The Royal Mint is a leading provider of precious metal products.

The Royal Mint was historically part of a series of mints that became centralised to produce coins for theKingdom of England,all ofGreat Britain,theUnited Kingdom,and nations acrossthe Commonwealth.

The Royal Mint operated within theTower of Londonfor several hundred years before moving to what is now calledRoyal Mint Court,where it remained until the 1960s. As Britain followed the rest of the world indecimalisingits currency, the Mint moved from London to a new 38-acre (15 ha) plant inLlantrisant,Glamorgan,Wales,where it has remained since.

Since 2018 The Royal Mint has been evolving its business to help offset declining cash use. It has expanded into precious metals investment, historic coins, and luxury collectibles, which saw it deliver an operating profit of £12.7 million in 2020–2021.[7]

In 2022 The Royal Mint announced it was building a new plant in South Wales to recover precious metals fromelectronic waste.[8]The first of this sustainably sourced gold is already being used in a new jewellery division – 886 by The Royal Mint – named in celebration of its symbolic founding date.[9]

History

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Origin

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Coin ofAlfred the Great.Medieval Latininscription:ELFRED[US] REXX [sic]( "Alfred the King" )

The history of coins inGreat Britaincan be traced back to the second century BC when they were introduced byCeltictribes from across theEnglish Channel.The first record of coins being minted in Britain is attributed toKentishtribes such as theCantiiwho around 80–60 BC imitated those ofMarseillethroughcastinginstead ofhammering.[10]After theRomansbegan theirinvasion of Britainin AD 43, they set up mints across the land, which producedRoman coinsfor some 40 years before closing. A mint inLondonreopened briefly in 383 until closing swiftly asRoman rule in Britaincame to an end. For the next 200 years, no coins appear to have been minted in Britain until the emergence ofEnglish kingdomsin the sixth and seventh centuries. By 650, as many as 30 mints are recorded across Britain.[11]

1279 to 1672

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TheTower of Londonin 1647

In 1279, the country's numerous mints were unified under a single system whereby control was centralised to the mint within theTower of London.Mints outsideLondonwere reduced, with only a few local andepiscopalmints continuing to operate.[2]Pipe rollscontaining the financial records of the London mint show an expenditure of£729 17s8+1⁄2dand records oftimberbought for workshops.

Individual roles at the mint were well established by 1464. The master worker was charged with hiring engravers and managingmoneyers,while the Warden was responsible for witnessing the delivery of dies. A specialist mint board was set up in 1472 to enact a 23 February indenture that vested the mint's responsibilities into three main roles: awarden,amasterandcomptroller.

In the early 16th century, mainland Europe was in the middle of aneconomic expansion,but England was suffering from financial difficulties brought on by excessive government spending. By the 1540s, wars with France and Scotland ledHenry VIIIto enactThe Great Debasement,which saw the amount of precious metal in coins significantly reduced.[12]In order to strengthen control of the country's currency,monasterieswere dissolved, which effectively ended major coin production outsideLondon.

In 1603, theUnion of Crownsof England and Scotland under KingJames Iled to a partial union of the two kingdoms' currencies, thepound Scotsand thepound sterling.Because Scotland had heavily debased its silver coins, a Scots mark was worth just13+1⁄2pence while an English mark was worth 6 shillings 8 pence (80 pence). To bridge the difference between the values, unofficial supplementarytoken coins,often made fromlead,were made by unauthorised minters across the country. By 1612, there were 3,000 such unlicensed mints producing these tokens, none of them paying anything to the government. The Royal Mint, not wanting to divert manpower from minting more profitablegoldandsilvercoins, hired outside agentLord Haringtonwho, under license, started issuingcopperfarthingsin 1613. Private licenses to mint these coins were revoked in 1644, which led traders to resume minting their own supplementary tokens. In 1672, the Royal Mint finally took over the production ofcoppercoinage.

Civil War mints

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Charles ICivil War half-crown

In 1630, sometime before the outbreak of theEnglish Civil War,England signed a treaty withSpainthat ensured a steady supply of silverbullionto theTower mint.Additional branch mints to aid the one in London were set up, including one atAberystwyth Castlein Wales. In 1642,parliamentseized control of the Tower mint. AfterCharles Itried to arrest theFive Members,he was forced to fleeLondonand established at least 16 emergency mints across theBritish IslesinCarlisle,Chester,Colchester,Cork,Dublin,Edinburgh,Exeter,Newark,Pontefract,Salisbury,Scarborough,parts ofCornwallincludingTruro,Weymouth,Worcester,andYork(see alsosiege money).

After raising the royal standard inNottingham,marking the beginning of the civil war, Charles called onloyalistmining engineerThomas Bushell,the owner of a mint and silver mine inAberystwyth,to move his operations to the royalist-heldShrewsbury,possibly within the grounds ofShrewsbury Castle.However, this mint was short-lived, operating for no more than three months before Charles ordered Bushell to relocate the mint to his headquarters in the royal capital ofOxford.The new Oxford mint was established on 15 December 1642 inNew Inn Hall,the present site ofSt Peter's College.There, silver plates and foreign coins were melted down and, in some cases, just hammered into shape to produce coins quickly. Bushell was appointed the mint's warden and master-worker, and he laboured alongside notable engraversNicholas Briot,Thomas RawlinsandNicholas Burghers,the last of whom[clarification needed]was appointed Graver of Seals, Stamps, and Medals in 1643. WhenPrince Ruperttook control of Oxford that same year, Bushell was ordered to move toBristol Castle,where he continued minting coins until it fell to parliamentary control on 11 September 1645, effectively ending Bushell's involvement in the civil war mints.

In November 1642, the king ordered royalistMPRichard Vyvyanto build one or more mints in Cornwall, where he was instructed to mint coins from whatever bullion could be obtained and deliver it toRalph Hopton,a commander of royalist troops in the region. Vyvyan built a mint inTruroand was its Master until 1646, when it was captured byparliamentarians.In December 1642, the parliamentarians set up a mint in nearbyExeter,which had been under parliamentary control since the beginning of the war and was under constant threat of attack byloyalisttroops. In September 1643, the town was captured by theCornish Royalist Armyled byPrince Maurice,leading Vyvyan to move his nearby mint inTruroto the captured town. The exact location of the mint in Exeter is unknown; however, maps from the time show a street named Old Mint Lane near Friernhay, which was to be the site of a1696 Recoinagemint. Much less is known about the mint's employees, with only Richard Vyvyan and clerk Thomas Hawkes recorded.[13]

CommonwealthUnite1653
1658 CromwellCrown

Following Charles I's execution in 1649, the newly formedCommonwealth of Englandestablished its own set of coins, which for the first time usedEnglishrather thanLatinand were more plainly designed than those issued under themonarchy.[14]The government invited French engineerPeter Blondeau,who worked at theParis Mint,to come to London in 1649 in the hope of modernising the country's minting process. In France,hammer-stuck coinshad been banned from the Paris Mint since 1639 and replaced withmilled coinage.[15]Blondeau began his testing in May 1651 inDrury House.He initially produced milled silverpattern piecesofhalf-crowns,shillingsandsixpences;however rival moneyers continued using the old hammering method. In 1656,Lord ProtectorOliver Cromwellordered engraverThomas Simonto cut a series of dies featuring hisbustand for them to be minted using the new milled method. Few of Cromwell's coins entered circulation; Cromwell died in 1658 and the Commonwealth collapsed two years later. Without Cromwell's backing of milled coinage, Blondeau returned to France, leaving England to continue minting hammer-struck coins.

1660 to 1805

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Isaac Newtonin 1702

In 1662, after previous attempts to introducemilled coinageinto Britain had failed, the restored monarchCharles IIrecalledPeter Blondeauto establish a permanent machine-made coinage.[16][17]Despite the introduction of the newer, milled coins, like the oldhammered coinsthey suffered heavily from counterfeiting andclipping.To combat this the textDecus et tutamen( "An ornament and a safeguard" ) was added to some coin rims.[18]

After theGlorious Revolutionof 1688, whenJames IIwas ousted from power, parliament took over control of the mint fromthe Crown,which had until then allowed the mint to act as an independent body producing coins on behalf of the government.

Under the patronage ofCharles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax,Isaac Newtonbecame the mint'swardenin 1696. His role, intended to be asinecure,was taken seriously by Newton, who went about trying to combat the country's growing problems with counterfeiting. By this time, forgeries accounted for 10% of the country's coinage,clippingwas commonplace and the value of the silver in coins had surpassed theirface value.King William IIIinitiated theGreat Recoinage of 1696whereby all coins were removed from circulation, and enacted theCoin Act 1696,making ithigh treasonto own or possesscounterfeitingequipment. Satellite mints to aid in the recoinage were established inBristol,Chester,Exeter,Norwich,andYork,with returned coins being valued by weight, notface value.

TheActs of Union 1707united England and Scotland into one country, leading London to take over production of Scotland's currency and thus replacing Scotland'sPound Scotswith the EnglishPound sterling.As a result, the Edinburgh mint closed on 4 August 1710. AsBritain's empirecontinued to expand, so too did the need to supply its coinage. This, along with the need for new mint machinery and cramped conditions within theTower of London,led to plans for the mint to move to nearbyEast Smithfield.

1805 to 1914

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Tower Hill

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Further information:Royal Mint Court
Johnson Smirke Building in 2007

Construction started in 1805 on the new purpose-built mint on Tower Hill, opposite the Tower of London, and it was completed by 1809. In 1812, the move became official: the keys of the old mint were ceremoniously delivered to the Constable of the Tower.[19]Facing the front of the site, stood the Johnson Smirke Building, named for its designer James Johnson and builderRobert Smirke.Construction was supervised by thearchitectJohn Lidbury Poole (father of the famous singer,Elizabeth Poole).[20]This building was flanked on both sides by gatehouses behind which another building housed the mint's new machinery. Several other smaller buildings were erected, which housed mint officers and staff members. The entire site was protected by a boundary wall patrolled by the Royal Mint's military guard.

By 1856, the mint was beginning to prove inefficient: there were irregularities in minted coins' fineness and weight. Instructed byPrime MinisterLord Palmerston,the Master of the MintThomas Grahamwas informed that unless the mint could raise its standards and become more economical, it would be broken up and placed under management by contractors. Graham sought advice from German chemistAugust Wilhelm von Hofmann,who in turn recommended his studentGeorge Frederick Ansellto resolve the mint's issues. In a letter to the Treasury dated 29 October 1856, Ansell was put forward as a candidate. He was appointed as a temporary clerk on 12 November 1856, with a salary of £120 per year.[21]

Upon taking office, Ansell discovered that the weighing of metals at the mint was extremely loose. At the mint, it had been the custom to weigh silver to the nearest 0.5 troy ounces (16 g) and gold to apennyweight(0.05 oz); however, these standards meant losses were being made from overvalued metals. In one such case, Ansell delivered 7920.00 oz of gold to the mint, where it was weighed by an official at 7918.15 oz, a difference of 1.83 oz. Requesting a second weighing on a more accurate scale, the bullion was certified to weigh 7919.98 oz, far closer to the previous measurement, which was off by 960grains.[citation needed][Numbers don't agree.]To increase the accuracy of weights, more precise weighing equipment was ordered, and the tolerance was revised to 0.10 oz for silver and 0.01 oz for gold. Between 1856 and 1866, the old scales were gradually removed and replaced with scales made by Messrs. De Grave, Short, and Fanner; winners of an1862 International Exhibitionprize award for work relating tobalances.[21]

Ansell also noticed a loss of gold during the manufacturing process. He found that 15 to 20 ounces could be recovered from the sweep, that is, the leftover burnt rubbish from the minting process, which was often left in open boxes for many months before being removed. Wanting to account for every particle and knowing that it was physically impossible for gold just to disappear, he put down the lost weight to a combination ofoil,dust,and different types of foreign matter amongst the gold.

In 1859, the Royal Mint rejected a batch of gold found to be too brittle for the minting of gold sovereigns. Analysis revealed the presence of small amounts ofantimony,arsenicandlead.With Ansell's background inchemistry,he persuaded the Royal Mint to allow him to experiment with thealloy,and was ultimately able to produce 167,539 goldsovereigns.[22]On a second occasion in 1868, it was again discovered that gold coins, this time totalling £500,000 worth, were being produced with inferior gold. Although the standard practice at the mint was for rejected coins (known as brockages) to be melted down, many entered general circulation, and the mint was forced to return thousands of ounces of gold to theBank of England.Although Ansell offered to re-melt the substandard coins, his offer was rejected, causing a row between him and senior mint chiefs, which ultimately led to him being removed from his position at the mint.[23]

Gold Melting Process (1870)

After the high-level practice as deputy engraver in the Royal Mint, Charles Wiener went then to Lisbon in 1864 as chief engraver to the Mint of Portugal.[24]In 1863 he made a commemorative medal for Prince Albert (1819-1861), consort of Queen Victoria. (Victoria and Albert Museum).[25]

Royal Mint Refinery

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After relocating to its new home on Tower Hill, the Mint came under increased scrutiny of how it dealt with unrefined gold that had entered the country. TheMaster of the Minthad been responsible for overseeing the practice since the position's inception in the 14th century. However, the refinery process proved too costly and suffered from a lack of accountability from the master. ARoyal Commissionwas set up in 1848 to address these issues; it recommended that the refinery process beoutsourcedto an external agency, thereby removing the refining process from the mint's responsibilities. The opportunity to oversee the Mint's refinery was taken up byAnthony de Rothschild,a descendant of theRothschild familyand heir to themultinationalinvestment bankingcompanyN M Rothschild & Sons.Rothschild secured a lease from the government in January 1852, purchasing equipment and premises adjacent to the Royal Mint on 19 Royal Mint Street under the name ofRoyal Mint Refinery.

Colonial expansion

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Royal Mint, Sydney in 1888

As Britain's influence as aworld powerexpanded, with colonies being established abroad, a greater need for currency led to the Royal Mint opening satellite branches overseas. This need first arose in the then-Colony of New South Wales,as the black-market trade in gold during and following the1851 Australian gold rushthreatened to undermine the colony's economy.[26]In 1851 the colony'sLegislative CouncilsentQueen Victoriaa petition seeking a local mint forSydney,and in 1853 the Queen issued anOrder in Councilproviding for the establishment of theSydney Branch of the Royal Mint.[27]The Royal Mint's Superintendent of Coining travelled to Australia to oversee its establishment onMacquarie Streetwithin the southern wing ofSydney Hospital,where it opened in 1855. Production increased quickly:assayer'snotes from 29 October 1855 indicate that the mint's Bullion Office had purchased 14,000 troy ounces (440 kg) of unrefined gold in the preceding week alone,[26]and the mint's overall coin output averaged over £1,000,000 yearly in its first five years of operation.[27]In 1868, goldsovereignsminted in Sydney were madelegal tenderin all British colonies, and in February 1886 they were given equal status in the UK itself.[27]

The success of the Sydney branch led to the opening of similar branches inMelbourneandPerth,on 2 June 1872 and 20 June 1899 respectively. Following theFederation of Australiain 1901 and the establishment of a separateAustralian poundin 1910, all three branches were used by the Commonwealth government to mint circulating coins for Australia.[28]The Melbourne and Perth branches had capabilities superior to those in Sydney, and they took over production responsibilities for Australia when the Sydney branch closed after 72 years of operation at the end of 1926.[26][27]Following the establishment of theRoyal Australian Mintas a central mint for Australian coinage, the Melbourne and Perth mints were divested by the Royal Mint on 1 July 1970.[29][30]

InCanada,which had been underBritish rulesince 1763, British coins circulated alongside those of other nations until 1858, when London started producing coins for the newly establishedCanadian dollar.As Canada developed in 1890, calls were made for a mint to be built inOttawato facilitate[clarification needed]the country's gold mines. The new mint was opened on 2 January 1908 byLord Grey,producing coins for circulation, includingOttawa Mint sovereigns.In 1931, under theStatute of Westminster,the mint came under the control of theGovernment of Canadaand was subsequently renamed theRoyal Canadian Mint.[31]

Hong Kong silver dollar (1867)

A fifth branch of the Royal Mint was established inMumbai(Bombay),Indiaon 21 December 1917 as part of a wartime effort. It struck sovereigns from 15 August 1918 until 22 April 1919 but closed in May 1919.[32][33]A sixth and final overseas mint was established in theUnion of South AfricainPretoriaon 1 January 1923, producing £83,114,575 worth ofsovereignsin its lifetime. As South Africa began cutting ties with Britain, the mint closed on 30 June 1941 but was later reopened as theSouth African Mint.[34]

Although London's Royal Mint officially controlled just six mints, many more independent mints were set up in parts of theBritish Empire.AtNew WestminsterinBritish Columbia,theBritish Columbia gold rushesled to a mint being established in 1862 byFrancis George Claudet,[35]under GovernorJames Douglas.It produced a few gold and silver coins before being shut down in 1862 to aid the city ofVictoriain becoming the region'sprovincial capital.[36]On 26 February 1864, anOrder in Councilrequested the founding of an independent mint (Hong Kong Mint) inBritish Hong Kongto issue silver and bronze coins.[37][38]But this mint was short-lived, due to its coins being heavily debased, causing significant losses.[clarification needed][Not clear how such losses arose.]The site was sold toJardine Mathesonin 1868, and the mint machinery was sold to the Japanese Mint inOsaka.[39]

1914 to 1966

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In 1914, as war broke out in Europe,Chancellor of the ExchequerDavid Lloyd Georgeinstructed that gold coins be removed from circulation to help pay for the war effort. The government started to issue £1 and 10-shilling Treasury notes as replacements, paving the way for Britain to leave the gold standard in 1931.

Engraving room at the Royal Mint in 1934

From 1928, theIrish Free State(later the Republic of Ireland) issuedits own coins.The Royal Mint produced these until Ireland established its ownCurrency Centrein Dublin in 1978.

During World War II, the Mint was important in ensuring people were paid for their services withhard currencyrather than banknotes. UnderOperation Bernhard,theNazisplanned to collapse theBritish economyby flooding the country with forged notes, leading theBank of Englandto stop issuing banknotes of £10 and above. To meet these demands, the Mint doubled its output so that by 1943 it was minting around 700 million coins a year despite the constant threat of being bombed. The Deputy Master of the Mint, John Craig, recognised the dangers to the Mint and introduced several measures to ensure the Mint could continue to operate in the event of a disaster. Craig added emergency water supplies, reinforced the Mint's basement to act as anair-raid shelterand even accepted employment of women for the first time.[40]For most of the war, the mint managed to escape most of the destruction ofthe Blitz,but in December 1940 three members of staff were killed in anair raid.Around the same time, an auxiliary mint was set up atPinewood Studios,Buckinghamshire,which had been requisitioned for the war effort. Staff and machinery from Tower Hill were moved to the site, which started production in June 1941 and operated for the duration of the war.[41][42]Over the course of the war, the Royal Mint was hit on several occasions, and at one point was put out of commission for three weeks. As technology changed with the introduction of electricity and demand continued to grow, the rebuilding process continued so that by the 1960s, little of the original mint remained, apart from Smirke's 1809 building and its gatehouses at the front.

1966 to present

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Relocation to Wales

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Royal Mint inLlantrisant

On 1 March 1966, the government announced plans todecimalisethe nation's currency,[43]thereby requiring the withdrawal and re-minting of many millions of new coins. At its current site on Tower Hill, the mint had suffered from lack of space for many years, and it would be inadequate to meet the anticipated high demand a recoinage would entail.[44]A possible move to a more suitable site had been discussed as far back as 1870 when Deputy Master of the Mint Charles Fremantle had recommended it in his first annual report. At the time, it had been suggested that the valuable land at Tower Hill could be sold to finance the purchase of land nearbyWhitefriars, Londonand pay for a new mint building.[45]However, after many years of subsequent debate by parliament it had been decided that improvements could be made to the existing site at Tower Hill. WithDecimal Dayset for 1971, the government quickly decided where to establish the new mint.

Over twenty sites were considered,[46]including suggestions for Scotland and Northern Ireland;[citation needed]however, the small Welsh town ofLlantrisant,ten miles (16 km) northwest ofCardiff,was eventually chosen.[47]Work on the new mint began in August 1967 with the construction of ablanktreatment plant and a plant for striking. This first phase of the mint was formally opened on 17 December 1968 in the presence ofQueen Elizabeth II,Prince Philip,andPrince Charles.There had been fears that the Royal family would face protests because of theInvestiture of Prince Charlesas thePrince of Wales;[clarification needed][Explain how this follows]however, no such protests materialised.[48]The second phase of construction began in 1973 and included the addition of a means to mint coins from raw metals;[clarification needed][Explain how this differs from the first phase plants]thus completing the full minting process. Upon completion the final cost for the land, buildings and plant came to £8 million.[49]Coin minting gradually shifted to the new site over the next seven years, and the last coin, a gold sovereign, was struck in London in November 1975.

Financial difficulties

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Royal Mint logo before becoming a government-owned company

After moving to Wales, the mint struggled to be profitable as the Western world fell into adeep recessionduring the early 1970s. To combat a rising national debt, the mint was established as atrading fundon 1 April 1975, which required it to become self-financing. This measure proved successful, and the mint became more profitable through heavy exports. In April 1990, the mint became an Executive Agency;[50]however, by 2001, the mint had reported its first annual loss: a result attributed to only securing 5% of newEurocoin production rather than the projected 20%. Despite this, the mint began diversifying its product range by offering items outside its usual coin-related merchandise. Around this time, the mint was selling different types of jewellery, commemorative plates and figurines,[51]eventually creating its ownRoyal Mint Classicsrange of collectible goods. This part of the business proved popular in attracting new customers, but it suffered from poor product development. Its products included ahip flaskwith an embedded£2 coin,anEdinburgh Crystalclock combined with amillennium Crown,and aWedgwoodplate featuringBritannia.[52]In 2007, the Mint decided to resume its focus on coins, downsizing non-coin related business and discontinuing its Classics range.[53]

The2008 global financial crisiswas another financial blow: arescue packagecosting £500 billion was announced to help stabilise Britain's banking system. This led to fears that the government would attempt to finance the cost by selling off state-owned organizations. In his 2009, pre-budget report theChancellor of the Exchequer,Alistair Darlingstated that the Treasury would "explore the potential benefits of alternative future models for the Royal Mint".[54][55]A month later in his2009 United Kingdom budget,he recommended that the mint be made a company with a view to it being sold.[56]

The recommendation was met with outrage by unions and opposition parties in parliament, who called it the "selling off the family silver" and said it would result in job losses. In contrast, the chief executive of the mint, Andrew Stafford, welcomed the proposal, saying that it would lead to further growth and secure the future of the business.[57]On 31 December 2009, rather than being fully privatised, the mint ceased to be anexecutive agencyand its assets were vested in alimited company,Royal Mint Ltd.The owner of the new company became The Royal Mint trading fund, which itself continued to be owned byHM Treasury.As its sole shareholder, the mint pays an annual dividend of £4 million to the Treasury, with the remaining profits being reinvested into the mint.[58]In 2015, Chancellor of the ExchequerGeorge Osborneannounced a £20 billionprivatisationdrive to raise funds, with the Royal Mint being up for sale alongside other institutions including theMet OfficeandCompanies House.[55]

Revival

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In 2012 The Royal Mint had a network of hundreds of UK sellers of their products.[citation needed]This ensured competitive pricing and availability to the UK public.

2012 London Olympics

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2012 Olympic Medal made by the Mint

After London was selected to host the2012 Summer Olympics,the Royal Mint put in a successful bid to manufacture the Games'Olympic and Paralympic medals.[59]4,700 gold, silver and bronze medals were produced by the Mint; each medal was struck 15 times with 900 tonnes of force.[60]

2012 Olympic medal specifications[60][61]
Medal Gold Silver Bronze
Weight 412 g 412 g 357 g
Composition 1.34% gold
93% silver
6% copper		 93% silver
7% copper		 97% copper
2.5% zinc
0.5% tin

In addition to securing the medal product contract, the Mint held a competition to design a series of commemorative50p coinsthat would enter general circulation before the event. The Mint received over 30,000 entries, with a further 17,000 from a children's competition on the television programmeBlue Peter.In all, a total of 29 designs featuring a sport were selected by the Mint; the youngest designer was just 9 years old.[62]A £2 coin commemorating London's handover toRio de Janeirowas also released in 2012.

The Royal Mint Experience

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In April 2014, the Mint announced plans for developing a visitor centre in Llantrisant where members of the public could go on a guided tour of the facility and learn about the mint's history. The development contract, estimated to be worth £7.7 million, was awarded to construction firmISGand design consultantMather & Co.,who had previously designed theNorwegian Olympic Museum,as well as a handful of visitor attractions for sports clubs includingChelsea F.C.,Manchester City F.C.,FC Porto,and theSpringboks.[63][64]To fund the development, a grant of £2.3 million was provided by theWelsh Governmenttowards the attraction which aimed to attract 200,000 visitors a year to the area.[65]By May 2016, two years after its announcement, the attraction, designed by Rio Architects[66]and now namedRoyal Mint Experience,opened to the public at a final cost of £9 million. The visitor centre includes an interactive museum, a view of the factory floor, an education centre, and a press where visitors can strike their own souvenir50 pence coin.[67]On display at the centre are more than 80,000 artefacts,[68]includingOlympic medals,apattern coinofEdward VIII,aJanvier reducing machineand a selection oftrial plates.

Recent events

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In the same month, the mint took in 48 tonnes of silver recovered from the shipwreck of theSSGairsoppa(torpedoed in 1941), which was used to produce limited edition coins.[69]

In 2015, after nearly 50 years, the mint began producing its own line ofbullionbars andcoinsunder its revivedRoyal Mint Refinerybrand. Then in 2016, the mint announced plans forRoyal Mint Gold(RMG), adigital gold currencythat usesblockchainto trade and invest ingold.Operated byCME Group,the technology is to be[out of date?]created by technology companies AlphaPoint andBitGo.[70]

The Royal Mint, in February 2020, listed its first financial product: the Royal Mint Physical Gold CommodityExchange-traded fund(ETF): RMAU. It is listed on theLondon Stock ExchangeandDeutsche Börse.RMAU is the first gold ETF backed 100% by theLondon Bullion Market Associationresponsible sourcing programme. Investors can also convert RMAU into coins and gold bars. The Royal Mint partnered withwhite labelETF firm HANetf.

Operations

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Coin production

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As the sole body responsible for mintinglegal tendercoins in the United Kingdom under contract fromHM Treasury,the mint produces all of the country's physical currency apart from banknotes which are printed by theBank of England.On average, it produces two billionpound sterlingcoins struck for general circulation every year, with an estimated 28 billion pieces circulating altogether. Outside the UK, the mint provides services to over 60 countries, including New Zealand and manyCaribbeannations, by producing national currencies or supplying ready-to-strikeplanchets.[71]In 2015, it was estimated that 2.4 billion coins were minted for overseas countries, exceeding domestic coinage production and providing over 60% of the mint's revenue from circulating currencies. The Mint also regularly produces commemorative coins for the collector's market, with a range of varying quality and made of different precious metals.

Coins minted (billions)[out of date]
2015[72] 2014[72] 2013[73]
United Kingdom 2.007 2.384 1.996
International 2.4 2.2 2.0

Bullion

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Royal Mint Refinery Seal

Another important operation of the mint, which contributes half the mint's revenue, is the sale ofbullionto investors and the general public in the form ofbarsandcoins.Historically, the mint refined its own metal; but following the advice of an 1848 Royal Commission, the process was separated, with the independentRoyal Mint Refinerybeing purchased and operated byAnthony de Rothschildin 1852. TheRothschild familycontinued the refinery's management until it was sold toEngelhardin 1967. A year later, the Royal Mint relocated to Wales and ceased its bullion bar interests, but the brand was revived in 2015. Bullion bars produced by the mint are stamped with the original Royal Mint Refinery emblem and come in a range of sizes.[74]

Bullion bars
Metal Fineness Weights
Silver 999 100 g 500 g 1 kg
Gold 999.9 1 g 5 g 10 g 1oz tr 100 g 500 g 1 kg
Platinum 999.5 1oz tr 100 g 500 g 1 kg
Minting of bullion coins began in 1957 to meet a demand for authenticsovereign coins,which suffered from heavy counterfeiting. Coins were released almost every year alongsideproofversions up to 1982 when production of uncirculated sovereigns was discontinued, though proof examples continued to be minted. In 1987, the mint started to produce a new type of bullion coin: the gold one-ounceBritanniacoin with a face value of £100. A silver version valued at £2 was also released in 1997. Production of the previously discontinued uncirculated sovereigns and half sovereigns resumed in 2000. From 2014, a lunar coin series was minted annually in celebration of theLunar New Year;and in 2016, a series featuringThe Queen's Beastsbegan.
Bullion coins
Type Face value Diameter Weight Fineness Ref.
Britannia 1 oz tr silver £2 38.61 mm 31.21 g 999
1 oz tr gold £100 32.69 mm 31.21 g 999.9 [75]
Sovereign Sovereign £1 22.05 mm 7.988 g 916 [76]
Queen's Beasts 2 oz tr silver £5 38.61 mm 62.42 g 999 [77]
1 oz tr gold £100 32.69 mm 31.21 g 999.9
1 oz tr platinum £100 32.69 mm 31.21 g 999.5
Lunar Series 1 oz tr silver £2 38.61 mm 31.21 g 999 [78]
1 oz tr gold £100 32.69 mm 31.21 g 999.9
Landmarks of Britain 1 oz tr silver £2 38.61 mm 31.21 g 999 [79]

Medals

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On occasion, the mint produces medals for government departments and under private contracts for clients such as royal societies, colleges, and universities. Most notably, the mint has madeOBEmedals as well as many military honours, including theDefence Medaland theConspicuous Gallantry Crossfor theBritish Armed Forces.[80]For the2012 Summer Olympics,the mint won a contract to produce 4,700 gold, silver and bronze medals for competitors.[81]

Before 1851, the making of medals at the mint was at the discretion of engravers who could undertake the work independently and receive an additional wage. A royal patent issued in 1669 granted the mint the sole right to produce medals of any metal that bore a monarch's portrait. Engravers would use the facilities at the mint to make commemorative medals of their own design for sale. A key date in the mint's history of producing medals for the military is 1815, when theBattle of Waterloomarked the beginning of awarding military campaign medals. By 1874, the mint was responsible for making all bars and clasps for war medals in the country and was making campaign medals such as theNew Zealand Medal,theAbyssinian War Medal,and theAshantee Medal.[82]

At the start of theFirst World War,military medals were manufactured by theWoolwich Arsenaland private contractors. However, in 1922, a new medal unit created by the mint became the sole manufacturer of all Royal and State medals and decorations in metal, except theVictoria Cross,which is made byHancocks & Co.[82][83]Before 2010, all British military medals were made by the mint; however, they now must compete with other manufacturers.[citation needed]

Trial of the Pyx

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Main article:Trial of the Pyx

TheTrial of the Pyxis a traditional procedure to test newlymintedcoinsfor conformity to required standards. The trials have been held since the 12th century, normally once per calendar year, and continue to the present day. The form of the ceremony has been essentially the same since 1282. They aretrialsin the full judicial sense, presided over by a judge with an expert jury ofassayers.The trials have since 1871 taken place at the livery hall of theWorshipful Company of Goldsmiths,having previously taken place at thePalace of Westminster.[84]Given modern production methods, it is unlikely that coins would not conform, although this has been a problem in the past as it would have been tempting for theMaster of the Mintto stealprecious metals.

The term "pyx" refers to theboxwoodchest (inGreekπυξίς,pyxis) in which coins were placed for presentation to the jury. There is also a Pyx Chapel (or Pyx Chamber) inWestminster Abbey,which was once used for secure storage of the Pyx and related articles.

Coins to be tested are drawn from the regular production of the Royal Mint. The Deputy Master of the Mint must, throughout the year, randomly select several thousand sample coins and place them aside for the trial. These must be a certain fixed proportion to the number of coins produced. For example, for every 5,000 bimetallic coins issued, one must be set aside, but for silverMaundy money,the proportion is one in 150.

The trial today consists of an inquiry independent of the Royal Mint.[85]

The jury is composed offreemenof theCompany of Goldsmiths,who assay the coins provided to decide whether they have been minted within the criteria determined by the relevant Coinage Acts.[86]

Arms

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Coat of arms of Royal Mint
Notes
Draftedc. 1561–62and granted 23 April 1982[87]
Escutcheon
Argent on a cross between in chief two fleur-de-lys Azure and in base two towers embattled of four merlons Sable a bezant between in pale two stags heads erased Or langued Gules and in fess two bulls heads erased Argent armed Or and langued Gules, on a chief Gules between two crosses crosslet fitchy Argent a lion passant guardant Or armed and langued Azure.

See also

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References

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Bibliography

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