Royal Mint

File:Alfred_den_store,_Nordisk_familjebok.png. Medieval Latin inscription: ELFRED[US] REXX{{sic}} ("Alfred the King")|alt=Drawing of a coin showing a portrait of Alfred the Great]]

The history of coins in Great Britain can be traced back to the second century BC when they were introduced by Celtic tribes from across the English Channel. The first record of coins being minted in Britain is attributed to Kentish tribes such as the Cantii who around 80–60 BC imitated those of Marseille through casting instead of hammering.{{Cite web|url=http://coinproject.com/jan/volume1/issue4/volume1-4-2.html|title=Britain's First Coins|last=Rudd|first=Chris|access-date=6 June 2017|archive-date=4 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504132218/http://coinproject.com/jan/volume1/issue4/volume1-4-2.html|url-status=dead}} After the Romans began their invasion of Britain in AD 43, they set up mints across the land, which produced Roman coins for some 40 years before closing. A mint in London reopened briefly in 383 until closing swiftly as Roman rule in Britain came to an end. For the next 200 years, no coins appear to have been minted in Britain until the emergence of English kingdoms in the sixth and seventh centuries. By 650, as many as 30 mints are recorded across Britain.{{cite web|url=http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/history/the-royal-mint-story/index.html|title=The Royal Mint Story|website=Royal Mint|access-date=25 May 2017|archive-date=8 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190908094617/http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/history/the-royal-mint-story/index.html|url-status=dead}}

File:The_Tower_of_London_1647.jpg in 1647|alt=1847 drawing of the Tower of London on the River Thames]]

In 1279, the country's numerous mints were unified under a single system whereby control was centralised to the mint within the Tower of London. Mints outside London were reduced, with only a few local and episcopal mints continuing to operate.{{Cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C207|title=Records of the Royal Mint|publisher=The National Archive|access-date=6 June 2017|archive-date=23 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823204147/http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C207|url-status=live}} Pipe rolls containing the financial records of the London mint show an expenditure of {{nowrap|£729 17s {{frac|8|1|2}}d}} and records of timber bought for workshops.

Individual roles at the mint were well established by 1464. The master worker was charged with hiring engravers and managing moneyers, 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: a warden, a master and comptroller.

In the early 16th century, mainland Europe was in the middle of an economic expansion, but England was suffering from financial difficulties brought on by excessive government spending. By the 1540s, wars with France and Scotland led Henry VIII to enact The Great Debasement, which saw the amount of precious metal in coins significantly reduced.{{Cite web|url=http://www.amrcoins.com/information-and-articles/the-testoons-of-henry-viii/|title=The Testoons of Henry VIII|website=AMR Coins|access-date=2 April 2017}} In order to strengthen control of the country's currency, monasteries were dissolved, which effectively ended major coin production outside London.

In 1603, the Union of Crowns of England and Scotland under King James I led to a partial union of the two kingdoms' currencies, the pound Scots and the pound sterling. Because Scotland had heavily debased its silver coins, a Scots mark was worth just {{frac|13|1|2}} pence while an English mark was worth 6 shillings 8 pence (80 pence). To bridge the difference between the values, unofficial supplementary token coins, often made from lead, 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 profitable gold and silver coins, hired outside agent Lord Harington who, under license, started issuing copper farthings in 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 of copper coinage.

File:Wenceslas Hollar - Half-crown of Charles I (State 2) 2.jpg Civil War half-crown|alt=Drawing of the reverse and obverse of a Charles I Civil War half-crown coin]]

In 1630, sometime before the outbreak of the English Civil War, England signed a treaty with Spain that ensured a steady supply of silver bullion to the Tower mint. Additional branch mints to aid the one in London were set up, including one at Aberystwyth Castle in Wales. In 1642, parliament seized control of the Tower mint. After Charles I tried to arrest the Five Members, he was forced to flee London and established at least 16 emergency mints across the British Isles in Carlisle, Chester, Colchester, Cork, Dublin, Edinburgh, Exeter, Newark, Pontefract, Salisbury, Scarborough, parts of Cornwall including Truro, Weymouth, Worcester, and York (see also siege money).

After raising the royal standard in Nottingham, marking the beginning of the civil war, Charles called on loyalist mining engineer Thomas Bushell, the owner of a mint and silver mine in Aberystwyth, to move his operations to the royalist-held Shrewsbury, possibly within the grounds of Shrewsbury 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 of Oxford. The new Oxford mint was established on 15 December 1642 in New Inn Hall, the present site of St 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 engravers Nicholas Briot, Thomas Rawlins and Nicholas Burghers, the last of whom{{clarify|date=June 2020}} was appointed Graver of Seals, Stamps, and Medals in 1643. When Prince Rupert took control of Oxford that same year, Bushell was ordered to move to Bristol 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 royalist MP Richard Vyvyan to build one or more mints in Cornwall, where he was instructed to mint coins from whatever bullion could be obtained and deliver them to Ralph Hopton, a commander of royalist troops in the region. Vyvyan built a mint in Truro and was its Master until 1646, when it was captured by parliamentarians. In December 1642, the parliamentarians set up a mint in nearby Exeter, which had been under parliamentary control since the beginning of the war and was under constant threat of attack by loyalist troops. In September 1643, the town was captured by the Cornish Royalist Army led by Prince Maurice, leading Vyvyan to move his nearby mint in Truro to 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 a 1696 Recoinage mint. Much less is known about the mint's employees, with only Richard Vyvyan and clerk Thomas Hawkes recorded.{{Cite news|url=https://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/utilities/action/act_download.cfm?mediaid=29445&langtoken=eng|title=Making a Mint?|last=Morgns|first=Geraint|date=December 1999|work=Country Quest|access-date=17 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831203640/http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/utilities/action/act_download.cfm?mediaid=29445&langtoken=eng|archive-date=2012-08-31|url-status=dead}}

File:Commonwealth Unite 1653 692157.jpg 1653 |alt=Photo of a 1653 gold Unite coin]]

File:England, Commonwealth, Cromwelltaler 1658, CNG.jpg|left|alt=Photo of a 1658 silver Crown coin featuring Oliver Cromwell]]Following Charles I's execution in 1649, the newly formed Commonwealth of England established its own set of coins, which for the first time used English rather than Latin and were more plainly designed than those issued under the monarchy.{{Cite web|url=http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=28446|title=Cromwell Put is Portrait on Coins|last=Julian|first=R.W.|date=23 January 2017|website=numismaster.com|access-date=17 July 2017|archive-date=23 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823210600/http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=28446|url-status=dead}} The government invited French engineer Peter Blondeau, who worked at the Paris Mint, to come to London in 1649 in the hope of modernising the country's minting process. In France, hammer-stuck coins had been banned from the Paris Mint since 1639 and replaced with milled coinage.{{sfn|Allen|2009|p=282}} Blondeau began his testing in May 1651 in Drury House. He initially produced milled silver pattern pieces of half-crowns, shillings and sixpences; however rival moneyers continued using the old hammering method. In 1656, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell ordered engraver Thomas Simon to cut a series of dies featuring his bust and 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.

File:Sir Isaac Newton by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt.jpg in 1702|alt=Portrait of Isaac Newton from 1702]]

In 1662, after previous attempts to introduce milled coinage into Britain had failed, the restored monarch Charles II recalled Peter Blondeau to establish a permanent machine-made coinage.{{harvp|Linecar|1985|pages=88–98}}.{{sfn|Davis|2010|p=888}} Despite the introduction of the newer, milled coins, like the old hammered coins they suffered heavily from counterfeiting and clipping. To combat this the text Decus et tutamen ("An ornament and a safeguard") was added to some coin rims.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eq20AAAAIAAJ&q=the+origin+of+the+process+is+attributed+to+%5B%5BIsaac+Newton%5D%5D,+after+being+appointed+%5B%5BMaster+of+the+Mint%5D%5D+%28charge+he+held|title=Economic Progress Report|publisher=Information Division of the Treasury.|year=1986|author=Great Britain. Treasury. Information Division}}

After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when James II was ousted from power, parliament took over control of the mint from the Crown, which had until then allowed the mint to act as an independent body producing coins on behalf of the government.

Under the patronage of Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, Isaac Newton became the mint's warden in 1696. His role, intended to be a sinecure, 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, clipping was commonplace and the value of the silver in coins had surpassed their face value. King William III initiated the Great Recoinage of 1696 whereby all coins were removed from circulation, and enacted the Coin Act 1696, making it high treason to own or possess counterfeiting equipment. Satellite mints to aid in the recoinage were established in Bristol, Chester, Exeter, Norwich, and York, with returned coins being valued by weight, not face value.

The Acts of Union 1707 united England and Scotland into one country, leading London to take over production of Scotland's currency and thus replacing Scotland's Pound Scots with the English Pound sterling. As a result, the Edinburgh mint closed on 4 August 1710. As Britain's empire continued to expand, so too did the need to supply its coinage. This, along with the need for new mint machinery and cramped conditions within the Tower of London, led to plans for the mint to move to nearby East Smithfield.

{{further|Royal Mint Court}}

File:The Royal Mint, London (378803870).jpg

Construction started in 1805 of 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/history/the-royal-mint-story/tower-hill/index.html|title=Tower Hill|website=Royal Mint|access-date=28 April 2017|archive-date=1 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101204027/http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/history/the-royal-mint-story/tower-hill/index.html|url-status=dead}} Facing the front of the site stood the Johnson Smirke Building, named for its designer James Johnson and builder Robert Smirke. Construction was supervised by the architect John Lidbury Poole (father of the famous singer, Elizabeth Poole).{{cite web |last=Lamb |first=Andrew |title=Andrew Lamb, 'Poole, Elizabeth [married name Bacon](1820–1906)' |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-111769 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2019 |access-date=13 August 2020 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.111769 |archive-date=27 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127182651/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-111769 |url-status=live }} 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 by Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, the Master of the Mint Thomas Graham was 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 chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann, who in turn recommended his student George Frederick Ansell to 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.{{sfn|Ansell|1870|p=}}

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 {{convert|0.5|ozt|g}} and gold to a pennyweight (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 1.85 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 960 grains.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}{{Fix|text=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 an 1862 International Exhibition prize award for work relating to balances.{{sfn|Ansell|1870|p=}}

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 of oil, 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 of antimony, arsenic and lead. With Ansell's background in chemistry, he persuaded the Royal Mint to allow him to experiment with the alloy, and was ultimately able to produce 167,539 gold sovereigns.{{cite web|url=http://goldsovereignexpert.com/coins/47/1859-Ansell-Gold-Sovereign/|title=1859 'Ansell' Sovereign|access-date=8 February 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215090816/http://goldsovereignexpert.com/coins/47/1859-Ansell-Gold-Sovereign/|archive-date=15 February 2016|df=dmy-all}} 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 the Bank 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.W. P. Courtney, rev. Robert Brown, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/571 "Ansell, George Frederick (1826–1880)"], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed 10 February 2017.

File:Gold_Melting_at_the_Royal_Mint_1800s.jpg

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.lbi.org/griffinger/record/415391 |title=Commemorative Medal for the Exposition Universelle Anvers |access-date=2 May 2022 |archive-date=12 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412132530/https://www.lbi.org/griffinger/record/415391 |url-status=live }} In 1863 he made a commemorative medal for Prince Albert (1819-1861), consort of Queen Victoria. (Victoria and Albert Museum).{{cite web |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O232797/medal-wiener-charles/ |title=Medal | Wiener, Charles | V&A Explore the Collections |date=19 February 1863 |access-date=2 May 2022 |archive-date=2 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502165859/https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O232797/medal-wiener-charles/ |url-status=live }}

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. The Master of the Mint had 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. A Royal Commission was set up in 1848 to address these issues; it recommended that the refinery process be outsourced to an external agency, thereby removing the refining process from the mint's responsibilities. The opportunity to oversee the Mint's refinery was taken up by Anthony de Rothschild, a descendant of the Rothschild family and heir to the multinational financial company N 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 of Royal Mint Refinery.

File:The Royal Mint, Sydney 1888.jpg

As Britain's influence as a world power expanded, 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 the 1851 Australian gold rush threatened to undermine the colony's economy.{{cite web |last=Starr |first=Fiona |title=A Short History of the Mint |url=https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/short-history-mint |website=Sydney Living Museums |date=21 June 2016 |publisher=Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales |access-date=10 November 2022 |archive-date=10 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110224410/https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/short-history-mint |url-status=dead }} In 1851 the colony's Legislative Council sent Queen Victoria a petition seeking a local mint for Sydney, and in 1853 the Queen issued an Order in Council providing for the establishment of the Sydney Branch of the Royal Mint.{{cite web |title=AGY-1730: Royal Mint Sydney |url=https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1ebnd1l/ORGANISATIONS1001840 |publisher=State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales |access-date=10 November 2022}} The Royal Mint's Superintendent of Coining travelled to Australia to oversee its establishment on Macquarie Street within the southern wing of Sydney Hospital, where it opened in 1855. Production increased quickly: assayer's notes from 29 October 1855 indicate that the mint's Bullion Office had purchased {{convert|14000|ozt|kg}} of unrefined gold in the preceding week alone, and the mint's overall coin output averaged over £1,000,000 yearly in its first five years of operation. In 1868, gold sovereigns minted in Sydney were made legal tender in all British colonies, and in February 1886 they were given equal status in the UK itself.

The success of the Sydney branch led to the opening of similar branches in Melbourne and Perth, on 2 June 1872 and 20 June 1899 respectively. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901 and the establishment of a separate Australian pound in 1910, all three branches were used by the Commonwealth government to mint circulating coins for Australia.{{cite web |author=Heritage NSW |title=EF10/20645: Mint Building and Hyde Park Barracks Group |url=https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5045802 |publisher=Department of Planning and Environment |access-date=10 November 2022 |location=Sydney |date=12 January 2007}} 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. Following the establishment of the Royal Australian Mint as a central mint for Australian coinage, the Melbourne and Perth mints were divested by the Royal Mint on 1 July 1970.{{cite web |last=Sharples |first=John |title=Collections: Melbourne Mint |url=https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/3775 |publisher=Museums Victoria |access-date=10 November 2022 |date=2010 |archive-date=10 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110224402/https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/3775 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=The Perth Mint Story |url=https://www.perthmint.com/about/the-perth-mint-story/ |website=The Perth Mint |publisher=Gold Corporation Western Australia |access-date=10 November 2022 |archive-date=10 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110224656/https://www.perthmint.com/about/the-perth-mint-story/ |url-status=live }}

In Canada, which had been under British rule since 1763, British coins circulated alongside those of other nations until 1858, when London started producing coins for the newly established Canadian dollar. As Canada developed in 1890, calls were made for a mint to be built in Ottawa to facilitate{{clarify|date=June 2020}} the country's gold mines. The new mint was opened on 2 January 1908 by Lord Grey, producing coins for circulation, including Ottawa Mint sovereigns. In 1931, under the Statute of Westminster, the mint came under the control of the Government of Canada and was subsequently renamed the Royal Canadian Mint.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ontarioplaques.com/Plaques/Plaque_Ottawa30.html|title=Ontario's Historical Plaques|website=ontarioplaques.com|access-date=2 July 2017|archive-date=14 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714225530/http://www.ontarioplaques.com/Plaques/Plaque_Ottawa30.html|url-status=live}}File:HongKong-1Dollar-1867.jpgA fifth branch of the Royal Mint was established in Mumbai (Bombay), India on 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.{{sfn|Michael|2016|p=1130}}{{cite web|url=http://goldsovereign.in/the-india-story/|title=The History of the Indian Sovereign|website=goldsovereign.in|access-date=22 July 2017|archive-date=27 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027054418/http://goldsovereign.in/the-india-story/|url-status=dead}} A sixth and final overseas mint was established in the Union of South Africa in Pretoria on 1 January 1923, producing £83,114,575 worth of sovereigns in its lifetime. As South Africa began cutting ties with Britain, the mint closed on 30 June 1941 but was later reopened as the South African Mint.{{cite web|url=http://www.southcapecoins.co.za/news/the-history-of-the-south-african-mint/|title=The History of the South African Mint|website=southcapecoins.co.za|access-date=22 July 2017|archive-date=15 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215182755/http://www.southcapecoins.co.za/news/the-history-of-the-south-african-mint/|url-status=dead}}

Although London's Royal Mint officially controlled just six mints, many more independent mints were set up in parts of the British Empire. At New Westminster in British Columbia, the British Columbia gold rushes led to a mint being established in 1862 by Francis George Claudet,{{cite book |last=Mattison |first=David |title=Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Photography |date=2013 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781135873271 |pages=304–5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yVFdAgAAQBAJ&q=%22francis+george+claudet%22+1837&pg=PA305 |access-date=20 April 2021}} under Governor James Douglas. It produced a few gold and silver coins before being shut down in 1862 to aid the city of Victoria in becoming the region's provincial capital.{{sfn|Hainsworth|2005|p=148}} On 26 February 1864, an Order in Council requested the founding of an independent mint (Hong Kong Mint) in British Hong Kong to issue silver and bronze coins.{{cite web|url=http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/Museum/History/en_US/web/mh/publications/spa_pspecial_02_01.html|title=Hong Kong Currency|website=Leisure and Cultural Services Department|access-date=22 July 2017|archive-date=10 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010063540/https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/History/en_US/web/mh/publications/spa_pspecial_02_01.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11029|title=Royal Mint: Branch Mints|publisher=The National Archives|access-date=22 July 2017|archive-date=23 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823210025/http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11029|url-status=live}} But this mint was short-lived, due to its coins being heavily debased, causing significant losses.{{clarify|date=June 2020}}{{Fix|text=Not clear how such losses arose.}} The site was sold to Jardine Matheson in 1868, and the mint machinery was sold to the Japanese Mint in Osaka.{{sfn|Ingham|2007|p=70}}

In 1914, as war broke out in Europe, Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George instructed 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. The Bombay Mint sovereign was the £1 coin.

File:Royal Mint Reducing Machine.jpg

From 1928, the Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland) issued its own coins. The Royal Mint produced these until Ireland established its own Currency Centre in Dublin in 1978.

During World War II, the Mint was important in ensuring people were paid for their services with hard currency rather than banknotes. Under Operation Bernhard, the Nazis planned to collapse the British economy by flooding the country with forged notes, leading the Bank of England to 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 an air-raid shelter and even accepted employment of women for the first time.{{Cite web|url=https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/journal/curators-corner/women-in-the-mint2|title=Women in the Mint|website=Royal Mint Museum|access-date=28 October 2020|archive-date=31 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031163039/https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/journal/curators-corner/women-in-the-mint2|url-status=live}} For most of the war, the mint managed to escape most of the destruction of the Blitz, but in December 1940 three members of staff were killed in an air raid. Around the same time, an auxiliary mint was set up at Pinewood 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.{{sfn|Beardon|2013|p=177}}{{sfn|Challis|1992|p=579}} 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.

File:The Royal Mint, Llantrisant.jpg|alt=Exterior of the Royal Mint building located in Llantrisant, Wales|250x250px]]

On 1 March 1966, the government announced plans to decimalise the nation's currency,{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/1/newsid_2513000/2513943.stm|title=1966: Britain to go decimal in 1971|website=BBC News|date=March 1966|access-date=30 August 2019|archive-date=7 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307123550/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/1/newsid_2513000/2513943.stm|url-status=live}} thereby requiring the withdrawal of millions of coins and the re-minting of new ones. 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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/fascinating-story-how-institution-makes-15487145|title=The fascinating story of how the institution that makes all our money ended up in Wales|last=Mosalski|first=Ruth|date=30 November 2018|work=WalesOnline|access-date=30 August 2019|archive-date=30 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830164535/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/fascinating-story-how-institution-makes-15487145|url-status=live}} 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 at nearby Whitefriars and pay for a new mint building.{{cite book |title=Annual Report of the Deputy Master and Comptroller - Royal Mint |year=1871 |publisher=Royal Mint |isbn=9781340858254 |page=13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h3JHAAAAYAAJ |access-date=30 August 2019}} However, after many years of subsequent debate in Parliament it had been decided that improvements could be made to the existing site at Tower Hill. With Decimal Day set for 1971, the government quickly decided where to establish the new mint.

Over twenty sites were considered{{Cite Hansard|house=House of Commons|jurisdiction=Parliament of the United Kingdom|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1970/mar/26/royal-mint#column_1661|quote=Before Llantrisant was finally chosen, over 20 sites in all were considered. The conclusion was that it was the best. Phase 1 of the scheme has been completed. For several months, it has been operating successfully, after Her Majesty the Queen had struck the first coin on 17th December, 1969, accompanied by His Highness the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales.|title=Royal Mint|speaker=Mr. Patrick Jenkin|date=26 March 1970|archive-date=30 November 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130073754/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1970/mar/26/royal-mint#column_1661|volume=798|access-date=28 April 2017}}{{cbignore}} including suggestions for Scotland and Northern Ireland;{{cite Hansard |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1967-04-25/debates/6472898b-2604-4fac-9c0b-933c19f9f92b/NewRoyalMint(Location) |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250214105230/https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1967-04-25/debates/6472898b-2604-4fac-9c0b-933c19f9f92b/NewRoyalMint(Location) |access-date=14 February 2024 |archive-date=14 February 2025 |url-status=live |title=New Royal Mint (Location) |date=25 April 1967 |house=House of Commons |jurisdiction=Parliament of the United Kingdom |volume=745}}{{cbignore}} however, the small Welsh town of Llantrisant, {{convert|10|mi|km|spell=in}} northwest of Cardiff, was eventually chosen.{{Cite web|url=http://www.royalmint.com/discover/decimalisation/a-new-royal-mint|title=A New Royal Mint|website=The Royal Mint|access-date=28 April 2017|archive-date=12 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612145030/https://www.royalmint.com/discover/decimalisation/a-new-royal-mint/|url-status=live}} Work on the new mint began in August 1967 with the construction of a blank treatment plant and a plant for striking. This first phase of the mint was formally opened on 17 December 1968 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, and Prince Charles. There had been fears that the Royal Family would face protests because some Welsh people were unhappy about the Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales; however, no such protests materialised.{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmyFMW4-DU8| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/gmyFMW4-DU8| archive-date=2021-11-18 | url-status=live|title=Queen Opens New Mint (1968)|publisher=Pathé News|access-date=28 April 2017}}{{cbignore}} The second phase of construction began in 1973 and included the addition of a means to mint coins from raw metals;{{clarify|date=June 2020}}{{Fix|text=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.{{Cite Hansard|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1970/mar/17/royal-mint-move#S5CV0798P0_19700317_CWA_14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130074823/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1970/mar/17/royal-mint-move#S5CV0798P0_19700317_CWA_14|url-status=live|archive-date=30 November 2024|title=Royal Mint (Move)|speaker=Mr Dick Taverne|date=17 March 1970 |volume=798|access-date=28 April 2017}}{{cbignore}} 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.

File:Royal Mint logo before 2007.svg

After moving to Wales, the mint struggled to be profitable as the Western world fell into a deep recession during the early 1970s. To combat a rising national debt, the mint was established as a trading fund on 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;{{Cite Hansard|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1990/apr/02/royal-mint#S6CV0170P0_19900402_CWA_45|volume=170|title=Royal Mint|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090710034211/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1990/apr/02/royal-mint#S6CV0170P0_19900402_CWA_45|archive-date=2009-07-10|url-status=live|date=2 April 1990|access-date=30 May 2017}}{{cbignore}} however, by 2001, the mint had reported its first annual loss: a result attributed to only securing 5% of new euro coin 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,{{Cite web|url=http://www.royalmint.com/~/media/Files/AnnualReports/ar200102.pdf|title=Royal Mint Annual Report 2001-02|publisher=Royal Mint|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613074520/http://www.royalmint.com/~/media/Files/AnnualReports/ar200102.pdf|archive-date=2017-06-13|url-status=dead|access-date=1 July 2017}} eventually creating its own Royal Mint Classics range of collectible goods. This part of the business proved popular in attracting new customers, but it suffered from poor product development. Its products included a hip flask with an embedded £2 coin, an Edinburgh Crystal clock combined with a millennium Crown, and a Wedgwood plate featuring Britannia.{{Cite web|url=http://www.royalmint.com/~/media/Files/AnnualReports/ar19992000.pdf|title=Royal Mint Annual Report 1999 -2000|publisher=Royal Mint|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331181932/http://www.royalmint.com/~/media/Files/AnnualReports/ar19992000.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-31|url-status=dead|access-date=1 July 2017}} In 2007, the Mint decided to resume its focus on coins, downsizing non-coin related business and discontinuing its Classics range.{{Cite web|url=http://www.royalmint.com/~/media/Files/AnnualReports/ar200708.pdf|title=The Royal Mint Annual Report 2007-08|publisher=Royal Mint|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330004630/http://www.royalmint.com/~/media/Files/AnnualReports/ar200708.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-30|url-status=dead|access-date=1 July 2017}}

The 2008 financial crisis was another financial blow: a rescue package costing £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 organisations. In his 2009 pre-budget report, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling stated that the Treasury would "explore the potential benefits of alternative future models for the Royal Mint".{{Cite news|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/privatisation-royal-mint-llantrisant-rolls-2118375|title=Privatisation of Royal Mint at Llantrisant rolls closer|last=Blake|first=Aled|date=17 March 2009|work=Wales Online|access-date=3 June 2017}} A month later in his 2009 United Kingdom budget, he recommended that the mint be made a company with a view to it being sold.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/22/budget-public-sector-jobs-risk|title=Budget 2009: Thousands of public sector jobs at risk|last=Bawden|first=Anna|date=22 April 2009|work=The Guardian|access-date=22 April 2017}}

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.{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8011331.stm|title=Royal Mint privatisation closer|date=21 April 2009|work=BBC News|access-date=2 June 2017|archive-date=6 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406131923/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8011331.stm|url-status=live}}

On 31 December 2009, rather than being fully privatised, the mint ceased to be an executive agency and its assets were vested in a limited company, Royal Mint Ltd. The owner of the new company became The Royal Mint trading fund, which itself continued to be owned by HM Treasury.[https://www.royalmint.com/brand/our-story/2000-present/ 2000-Present] 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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/24/royal-mint-makes-mint|title=Royal Mint Makes a Mint … Again|last=Kollewe|first=Julia|date=24 July 2015|work=The Guardian|access-date=2 June 2017}} In 2015, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced a £20 billion privatisation drive to raise funds, with the Royal Mint being up for sale alongside other institutions including the Met Office and Companies House.{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/34b153b6-75e9-11e6-bf48-b372cdb1043a|url-status=live|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/34b153b6-75e9-11e6-bf48-b372cdb1043a |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription|title=Green Investment Bank bidders ready final offer| last1 = Plimmer | first1 = Gill| last2 = Pickard | first2 = Jim|date=11 September 2016|work=Financial Times}}

In the 21st century cash was becoming less commonly used, with no coins minted, for the first time, in 2024, and the Mint was seeking new sources of revenue such as its "886" jewellery line.

In 2012 The Royal Mint had a network of hundreds of UK sellers of their products.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} This ensured competitive pricing and availability to the UK public.

;2012 London Olympics

File:As close as I'm going to get to an Olympic gold medal (7654484286).jpg

After London was selected to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Royal Mint put in a successful bid to manufacture the Games' Olympic and Paralympic medals.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/london-olympics-business/8207463/London-2012-Olympics-Royal-Mint-wins-contract-to-make-medals.html|title=London 2012 Olympics: Royal Mint wins contract to make medals|last=Ruddick|first=Graham|date=16 December 2017|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=2 July 2017|archive-date=24 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824195450/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/london-olympics-business/8207463/London-2012-Olympics-Royal-Mint-wins-contract-to-make-medals.html|url-status=live}} 4,700 gold, silver and bronze medals were produced by the Mint; each medal was struck 15 times with 900 tonnes of force.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15478810|title=London 2012: Olympic medals go into production in Wales|last=Hume|first=Colette|date=27 October 2011|work=BBC News|access-date=2 July 2017|archive-date=2 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202141911/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15478810|url-status=live}}

In addition to securing the medal product contract, the Mint held a competition to design a series of commemorative 50p coins that 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 programme Blue Peter. In all, a total of 29 designs featuring a sport were selected by the Mint; the youngest designer was just 9 years old.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11527266|title=London 2012 Olympic 50p coins go into circulation|access-date=1 July 2017|publisher=BBC|archive-date=11 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911203514/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11527266|url-status=live}} A £2 coin commemorating London's handover to Rio de Janeiro was also released in 2012.

;The Royal Mint Experience

In April 2014, the Mint announced plans to develop 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 firm ISG and design consultant Mather & Co., who had previously designed the Norwegian Olympic Museum, as well as a handful of visitor attractions for sports clubs including Chelsea F.C., Manchester City F.C., FC Porto, and the Springboks.{{Cite news|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/royal-mint-appoints-design-consultancy-9034558|title=The Royal Mint appoints design consultancy for its £7.5m interactive museum|last=Barry|first=Sion|date=13 April 2015|work=Wales Online|access-date=6 July 2017|archive-date=23 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823205351/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/royal-mint-appoints-design-consultancy-9034558|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.matherandco.com/work/|title=Mather & Co - Our Work|publisher=matherandco.com|access-date=6 July 2017}} To fund the development, a grant of £2.3 million was provided by the Welsh Government towards the attraction which aimed to attract 200,000 visitors a year to the area.{{Cite web|url=http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/news/the-royal-mint-announces-plans-for-first-visitor-centre|title=The Royal Mint announces plans for first visitor centre|date=24 April 2014|website=The Royal Mint|access-date=28 April 2017|archive-date=23 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823205417/http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/news/the-royal-mint-announces-plans-for-first-visitor-centre|url-status=live}} By May 2016, two years after its announcement, the attraction, designed by Rio Architects{{Cite news|url=https://www.rioarchitects.com/project/the-royal-mint-experience/|title=The Royal Mint Experience by Rio Architects|archive-date=17 April 2024|access-date=15 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240417191557/https://www.rioarchitects.com/project/the-royal-mint-experience/|url-status=live}} and now named Royal 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 souvenir 50 pence coin.{{Cite web|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/everything-you-need-know-royal-11344054|title=Everything you need to know about The Royal Mint Experience|last=Doran|first=Lorna|date=17 May 2016|website=Wales Online|access-date=28 April 2017|archive-date=24 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424140039/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/everything-you-need-know-royal-11344054|url-status=live}} On display at the centre are more than 80,000 artefacts,{{Cite web|url=https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/november-2014/royal-mint-seeks-exhibition-designers-as-visitor-centre-plans-take-shape/|title=Royal Mint seeks exhibition designers as visitor centre plans take shape|last=Montgomery|first=Angus|date=17 November 2014|publisher=Design Week 30|access-date=6 July 2017|archive-date=23 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823203515/https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/november-2014/royal-mint-seeks-exhibition-designers-as-visitor-centre-plans-take-shape/|url-status=live}} including Olympic medals, a pattern coin of Edward VIII, a Janvier reducing machine and a selection of trial plates.

In the same month, the mint took in 48 tonnes of silver recovered from the shipwreck of the SS Gairsoppa (torpedoed in 1941), which was used to produce limited edition coins.{{cite news|last=Evans|first=Carrie|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/royal-mint-takes-delivery-48-6916447|title=Royal Mint takes delivery of 48 tonnes of silver salvaged from site of WWII shipwreck|date=4 April 2014|work=Wales Online|access-date=7 June 2017|archive-date=23 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823205948/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/royal-mint-takes-delivery-48-6916447|url-status=live}}

In 2015, after nearly 50 years, the mint began producing its own line of bullion bars and coins under its revived Royal Mint Refinery brand. Then in 2016, the mint announced plans for Royal Mint Gold (RMG), a digital gold currency that uses blockchain to trade and invest in gold. However, this project was cancelled in 2018.

The Royal Mint, in February 2020, listed its first financial product: the Royal Mint Physical Gold Commodity Exchange-traded fund (ETF): RMAU. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse. RMAU is the first gold ETF backed 100% by the London Bullion Market Association responsible sourcing programme. Investors can also convert RMAU into coins and gold bars. The Royal Mint partnered with white label ETF firm HANetf.

The Mint, seeking to diversify, launched a line of sustainable luxury hand-made jewellery, 886 by The Royal Mint, in 2022, selling online and from a shop in London's Burlington Arcade. The collection uses gold recovered from electronic waste and other recycled sources. In 2024 the it was expecting to become profitable the following year.{{cite news| last=Makortoff | first=Kalyeena | title=Jewellery, buttons and a conceptual bra: how the Royal Mint boss found a new source of money |newspaper=The Observer | date=22 December 2024 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/dec/22/jewellery-buttons-and-a-conceptual-bra-how-the-royal-mint-boss-found-a-new-source-of-money}}

As the sole body responsible for minting legal tender coins in the United Kingdom under contract from HM Treasury, the mint produces all of the country's physical coinage; banknotes are printed by the Bank of England. On average, it strikes two billion sterling coins for general circulation every year, with an estimated 28 billion coins circulating altogether. Outside the UK, historically, the mint has provided services to over 60 countries, including New Zealand and many Caribbean nations, by minting national currencies or supplying ready-to-strike planchets.{{cite web |date=25 August 2015 |title=About The Royal Mint |url=http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/ |access-date=25 August 2015 |publisher=The Royal Mint |archive-date=7 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907085345/http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus |url-status=live }} 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.

In 2024, the Royal Mint announced that it would cease its production of coins for other countries due to the decline in cash use globally.

Declining cash use has been a catalyst for change at The Royal Mint, spurring innovation and a portfolio of new businesses. In 2024, The Royal Mint unveiled its new Precious Metals Recovery facility at its site in south Wales. The 3,700 square metre facility provides a more sustainable source of gold to the business, reducing its reliance on mining. It uses world-first patented chemistry from Canadian clean tech company Excir, extracting gold from printed circuit boards (PCBs) found in everyday electronic items such as TVs, laptops and mobile phones in minutes. Excir's chemistry works at room temperature, enabling energy- and cost-effective gold recovery.

The Mint also regularly produces commemorative coins for the collectors' market, with a range of varying quality and made of different precious metals.

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File:Royal Mint Refinery Logo.svgAnother important operation of the mint, which contributes half the mint's revenue, is the sale of bullion to investors and the general public in the form of bars and coins. Historically, the mint refined its own metal; but following the advice of an 1848 Royal Commission, the process was separated, with the independent Royal Mint Refinery being purchased and operated by Anthony de Rothschild in 1852. The Rothschild family continued the refinery's management until it was sold to Engelhard in 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.{{Cite web|url=http://blog.royalmint.com/gold-bars-royal-mint-refinery/|title=Gold bars now available from The Royal Mint|last=Oliver|first=Dan|date=21 January 2015|website=The Royal Mint|access-date=29 April 2017|archive-date=22 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922050540/http://blog.royalmint.com/gold-bars-royal-mint-refinery/|url-status=dead}}

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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 made OBE medals as well as many military honours, including the Defence Medal and the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for the British Armed Forces.{{Cite web| url=https://www.royalmint.com/stories/collect/a-badge-of-honour-our-pride-in-making-medals-at-the-royal-mint/| title=A badge of honour – our pride in making medals at The Royal Mint| website=Royal Mint Blog| access-date=16 July 2020| archive-date=18 September 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918081419/https://www.royalmint.com/stories/collect/a-badge-of-honour-our-pride-in-making-medals-at-the-royal-mint/| url-status=live}} For the 2012 Summer Olympics, the mint won a contract to produce 4,700 gold, silver and bronze medals for competitors.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/london-olympics-business/8207463/London-2012-Olympics-Royal-Mint-wins-contract-to-make-medals.html|title=London 2012 Olympics: Royal Mint wins contract to make medals|last=Ruddick|first=Graham|date=16 December 2010|work=The Telegraph|access-date=30 April 2017|archive-date=24 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824195450/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/london-olympics-business/8207463/London-2012-Olympics-Royal-Mint-wins-contract-to-make-medals.html|url-status=live}}

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 the Battle of Waterloo marked 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 the New Zealand War Service Medal, the Abyssinian War Medal, and the Ashantee Medal.{{cite web |title=Royal Mint: Medals |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11028 |publisher=The National Archive |access-date=24 September 2017 |archive-date=24 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924231011/http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11028 |url-status=live }}

At the start of the First World War, military medals were manufactured by the Woolwich Arsenal and 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 the Victoria Cross, which is made by Hancocks & Co.{{cite web|url=https://www.hancocks-london.com/the-victoria-cross/|title=Victoria Cross|website=hancocks-london.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924230657/https://www.hancocks-london.com/the-victoria-cross/|archive-date=2017-09-24|url-status=dead|access-date=20 April 2017}} Before 2010, all British military medals were made by the mint; however, they now must compete with other manufacturers.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}

File:The Waterloo Medal MET DP118486.jpg|alt=Waterloo Medal|Waterloo Medal (1849)

File:USA London 2012 Silver Medal Front.jpg|alt=2012 Olympic Medal|2012 Summer Olympics

File:Military Cross.jpg|alt=Military Cross Medal|Military Cross

File:George Cross.jpg|alt=George Cross Medal|George Cross

File:Arctic Star medal.jpg|alt=Arctic Star Medal|Arctic Star

{{main|Trial of the Pyx}}

The Trial of the Pyx is a traditional procedure to test newly minted coins for conformity to required standards. The trials have been held since the 12th century, normally once per calendar year. The form of the ceremony has been essentially the same since 1282. They are trials in the full judicial sense, presided over by a judge with an expert jury of assayers. The trials have since 1871 taken place at the livery hall of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, having previously taken place at the Palace of Westminster.{{cite web |title=The Trial of the Pyx |url=http://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/company/trial.htm |publisher=The Goldsmiths' Company |year=2004 |access-date=2 September 2008 |archive-date=21 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821051020/http://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/company/trial.htm |url-status=dead }} 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 the Master of the Mint or others to steal precious metals.

The term "pyx" refers to the boxwood chest (in Greek πυξίς, pyxis) in which coins were placed for presentation to the jury. There is also a Pyx Chapel (or Pyx Chamber) in Westminster 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 a fixed proportion of the coins produced and set the samples aside for the trial. For example, for every 5,000 bimetallic coins issued one must be set aside, but for silver Maundy money the proportion is one in 150.

The trial today consists of an inquiry independent of the Royal Mint.{{cite web |title=Trial of the Pyx |url=https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/journal/history/trial-of-the-pyx/ |website=Royal Mint Museum |access-date=17 February 2021 |archive-date=6 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206041317/https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/journal/history/trial-of-the-pyx/ |url-status=live }}

The jury is composed of freemen of the Company of Goldsmiths, who assay the coins provided to decide whether they have been minted within the criteria determined by the relevant Coinage Acts.{{cite web |title=The History of the Trial of the Pyx |url=http://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/history-of-the-trial-of-the-pyx |publisher=The Royal Mint |date=27 March 2012 |access-date=27 March 2012 |archive-date=15 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315080642/http://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/history-of-the-trial-of-the-pyx |url-status=live }}

{{Infobox COA wide

|image = 200px

|notes = Drafted {{circa|1561–62}} and granted 23 April 1982{{cite web |title=Royal Mint |url=https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/journal/history/the-royal-coat-of-arms/ |publisher=Royal Mint |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920170800/https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/journal/history/the-royal-coat-of-arms/ |url-status=live }}

|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.

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{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Money|last=Allen|first=Larry|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2009|isbn=978-1598842517}}
• {{cite book|last=Ansell|first=George Frederick|title=The Royal Mint: its working, conduct, and operations...|date=1870|publisher=Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/royalmint01anse}}
• {{cite book|title=The Spellmount Guide to London in the Second World War|last=Beardon|first=James|publisher=Spellmount|year=2013|pages=177}}
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• {{cite book|title=The Mint: A History of the London Mint from A.D. 287 to 1948 |last=Craig|first=John|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2011}}
• {{cite book|last=Davis|first=Glyn|title=A History of Money From Ancient Times to the Present Day|date=2010|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=978-0708317174}}
• {{cite book|last=Dyer|first=G.P.|title=The Royal Mint : An Illustrated History|date=1986|publisher=Royal Mint|isbn=9781869917012}}
• {{cite book|title=New Westminster Album: Glimpses of the City as It Was|last=Hainsworth|first=Gavin|publisher=Dundurn Group Ltd|date=2005|isbn=978-1550025484|pages=148}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EW-4yJAi7YcC|title=Hong Kong: A Cultural History|date=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-972447-5|page=70|last=Ingham|first=Michael}}
• {{cite book|last=Linecar|first=Howard|title=Coins and Coin Collecting|date=1985|publisher=Littlehampton Book Services Ltd|isbn=9780600500872}}
• {{cite book|title=2017 Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000|last=Michael|first=Thomas|publisher=Krause Publications|date=2016|isbn=978-1440246548}}
• {{cite encyclopedia|last=Vince|first= Alan|year=2001|title=London|editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor2=Blair, John |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor4=Scragg, Donald |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1}}

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