Money, Money Money

We had a trip out on Saturday and in the afternoon we visited The Royal Mint. You may be aware that the original Royal Mint was situated first within the Tower of London and then nearby in Tower Hill. It was the beginning of decimalisation and the huge number of coins to be produced that precipitated the move to the present site at Llantrisant, South Wales. Building started in1967 to be ready with all the new coins by D Day on 15th February 1971.

We were greeted by a Royal Mint Shaun the Sheep by the entrance before we started our tour.

I am not sure exactly what I expected to be able to see on the tour. We had a very informative guide in quite a large group. He gave us a good explanation of the process of producing a coin which was backed up by a good exhibition which was a little difficult to see due to the number of people. We then moved on into the mint itself, well a glass windowed corridor on the side of the factory. It was actually quite difficult to see the coin production because it was basically all within the machinery but we did get the gist of what was happening.

It was then time to move onto "Strike a Coin". This gives you the chance to strike your own coin by pressing a button to start the machinery.

We had paid for Student Daughter to have a go (£5 or £7.50 for two). The coin being made was a 50p with a Sir Isaac Newton design. This particular coin is the 2018 version and will not be released into general use.

We had been asked to turn off our phones and not use cameras while still in the factory. We assumed however when we came to a number of large chests of pound coins with a sign saying 'have your photo taken' that we could switch them on again. Apparently not as I found out when I was reprimanded for trying to take a picture for the Student Daughter. Whoops! Unfortunately I had already taken this one.

I thought it could be used for the Winter Scavenger Hunt for No. 17 Many. These two would also qualify both of which were taken in the area where pictures were allowed.

There were quite a few things that I learnt on the tour. I was not aware that The Royal Mint produces currency for many countries. Egyptian pounds were being made on the day of our visit. There was an exhibition of all the different countries that coins are or have been made for which included this square coinage for Suriname and this petal edge for th Phillipines.

It was certainly an interesting tour with a lot of exhibits to see including medals and commemorative collectors coins. Many of the commemorative items were for sale in the shop. The Beatrix Potter 50p coins were particularly appealing but fairly costly including a gold plated painted Peter Rabbit coin at £1000. Perhaps not today!