The Royal Mint | mint | www.metalmarket.eu
The Royal Mint
History of creation
The Royal Mint is Britain's oldest company, having been established over 1,100 years ago by Alfred the Great. Such a long pedigree allows it to simultaneously enjoy its status as one of the oldest mints in the world. Its origins date back to the time when there were many small mints operating in the country, which over time were decided to centralize them.
For several hundred years, the mint was headquartered in the Tower of London, before moving in 1812 to The Royal Mint Court, built next door. Growing demand and the consequent need to increase production capacity forced the mint to move outside London in 1968. Llantrisant in Wales was chosen as the new headquarters, where The Royal Mint continues to operate to this day on a 15-acre site.
The Royal Mint, which is still the official producer of British coins today, is a limited company wholly owned by Her Majesty's Treasury.
It focuses primarily on minting coins that go to the British market, as well as to markets in several other countries, but at the same time it is also a leading supplier of many other precious metal products - m. in. bullion coins, medals or bars.
In 2022, the mint announced ambitious investment plans to build another plant in Wales, however, with a slightly different business profile. This is because it is to focus on recovering precious metals from electronic waste, which will then be used in the production of jewelry under the brand - 886 by The Royal Mint. The name is a reference to the date that is believed to be the historical beginning of the mint.
Curiosity
It is well known that coins and other products made of precious metals are very often counterfeit items by forgers. Over the years, they have managed to develop extremely effective techniques that allow them to lead even experienced investors astray. Mints around the world are making constant efforts to protect their products as much as possible from counterfeiting attempts and thus offer investors and collectors the sense of security they are looking for.
The Royal Mint in the context of innovative security features of its coins has a lot to offer. Minted by the Britannia Mint, it is considered the best visually protected bullion coin in the world.
Such an effect was achieved through the use of four innovative safety features:
- a hidden image - which acts like a hologram, changing from a log to a trident depending on the angle at which one looks at the coin,
- surface animation - laser-made micro-details create the illusion of waves behind the Britannia figure, which come to life when the coin is spun,
- micro-text - surrounding the figure of Britannia, the inscription "DECUS ET TUTAMEN" is also made with an advanced laser,
- plaster technique - colors and patterns on metal were indicated by symbols - lines.
Production volume
The Royal Mint is one of the most important mints in the world, and consequently one of the largest and most technologically advanced. Its services are currently used by more than 30 countries, which already gives an idea of how much capacity it must have at its disposal. And there is no denying that they are impressive. Each year, 3.3 billion finished coins and blanks come out of the production facility in Llantrisant, Wales, which are given their final shape using a press. More than 900 employees directly employed by The Royal Mint take care of the proper production process.
Most popular products
The Royal Mint is a mint with a very long history and also a huge reputation. Not surprisingly, it offers many iconic coins that are well known to collectors and investors alike, looking for a safe and liquid investment.
A prime example is Britannia, which appeared on the market back in 1987. Initially, it was beaten with 22-karat gold mixed with other metals, but since 2012 only 24-karat gold has been used for its production. The moment's great popularity meant that, over time, it came in silver and platinum versions, as well as many different size variants.
The Queen's Beasts series is also an interesting coin collection series. It depicts ten heraldic images of the beasts that guarded the entrance to Westminster Abbey during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The collection is made up of eleven unique moments - ten depicting animal images, and a coin summarizing the entire series (Completer), containing on the reverse side images of all ten Queen Beasts.
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