Encyclopedia:
Royal Mint,
Talk:Royal Mint,
Image:Melbourne royal mint gates.jpg
Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or
mint, coins in the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Royal Mint originated over one thousand years ago, but it has functioned since 1975 as a
Government Trading Fund, operating in much the same way as a government-owned company. It now has
executive agency status however is currently undergoing the process of being converted into a Government owned business. The Royal Mint as a body reports to
HM Treasury however departmental day to day responsibilities are handled by the Shareholder Executive. It not only mints coins for the UK, but also mints and exports coins to many other countries. It also produces military
medals, commemorative medals and other such items for governments, schools and
businesses.
The mint has an extensive collection of coins from the 16th century onwards. The collection is housed in eighty cabinets made by
Elizabeth II's cabinet maker,
Hugh SwannThe mint operates on a single site in
Llantrisant, South
Wales.
The annual
Trial of the Pyx checks coins produced for the UK government for size, weight and chemical composition.
History
The
London Mint first became a single institution in
886, during the reign of
Alfred the Great, but was only one of many mints throughout the kingdom. By about
1279 it had moved to the
Tower of London, and it finally achieved a
monopoly in the
16th century.
Isaac Newton, who took up the post of
Warden of the Mint in
1696, became perhaps the best-known
Master of the Royal Mint, 1700-1727. He unofficially moved the
Pound Sterling to the
gold standard from
silver in
1717. In
1811 the mint moved out of the Tower to a new factory on Tower Hill, and in
1967 the building of a new mint began in its current site in Llantrisant.
References
*
http://www.royalmint.gov.uk British Royal Mint*
http://www.24carat.co.uk/royalmint.html Chard websiteSee also
*
British coinage*
British banknotes*
Pound Sterling*
List of MintsExternal links
*
http://www.royalmint.com Royal Mint*
http://www.royalmint.com/RoyalMint/web/site/Corporate/AboutUs/People/SirIssacNewton.asp Isaac Newton - Royal Mint site*
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/regions/wales/390226.stm Royal Mint privatisation plan halted - BBC News, 9 July 1999
*
http://coindesigns.50webs.com/index.html Coin Designs- Royal Mint Competition Designs
Category:1st millennium establishmentsCategory:Currencies of the United KingdomCategory:Executive agencies of the United Kingdom governmentCategory:Mintsno:Royal Mint
