The Royal Mint Museum

17/06/2026

The Royal Mint Museum holds a remarkable collection documenting the process of decimalisation in the United Kingdom. Alongside official reports, trial pieces and collector sets, the Museum preserves printed materials used to inform the public, including posters, leaflets and newsletters.

More unexpectedly, novelty items such as a board game, playing cards, a duster and even a pair of decimalisation underpants have survived. These objects help tell the full story of one of the most significant changes to British currency.

16/06/2026

Joseph Edgar Boehm is best known to numismatists for his portrait of Queen Victoria on the 1887 Jubilee coinage. Though the design was widely criticised and replaced within a decade, Boehm was a respected sculptor whose public works still stand in London.

A lesser-known tribute to him is a bronze medal by Edouard Lanteri, his former assistant and a leading teacher of sculpture. Created in 1891, the medal reflects the admiration Boehm inspired among his peers and possibly offers a more enduring legacy than his short-lived coinage portrait.

15/06/2026

Edward Carter Preston, best known for designing the First World War Memorial Plaque (often referred to as the 'Dead Man's Penny' or 'Death Penny'), came close to creating a United Kingdom coin in the 1920s.

Invited to submit designs for a new crown piece, he followed the contemplative style of the Peace Crown, producing a series of plaster models depicting seated Britannia figures.

Though finely executed, his medal-like approach did not meet the Royal Mint Advisory Committee’s requirements for coinage.

The commission ultimately went to George Kruger Gray. But Carter Preston’s thoughtful designs remain a testament to his artistic legacy and are preserved in our collection.

14/06/2026

World Blood Donor Day exists to celebrate those who have volunteered to donate life-saving blood. This pin badge from our collection would have been awarded in recognition of a milestone donation.

13/06/2026

From time to time, the Royal Mint Museum benefits from generous donations, including a recent bequest from Derek Noakes. A lifelong collector of material relating to his native London, Derek developed a particular interest in the membership passes of the London Institution, founded in 1807 to promote “the diffusion of Science, Literature and the Arts.”

The Institution offered a library, lectures and scientific resources, with members gaining access through subscription passes. First made in ivory, these were produced in bronze from 1832 featuring a design by William Wyon. One side shows Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, while the reverse carries a heraldic design. Members could also lend their passes to friends, highlighting their practical and social use.

Derek’s collection includes 111 passes and, as each pass was stamped with a number, linking it to individual members, he was able to conduct detailed research into their owners. Together, the passes and records form both an institutional and social history, built through years of careful and dedicated collecting.

12/06/2026

The Royal Mint played a key role in developing the new coinage of Latvia in the 1920s, striking virtually all of the silver coins, beginning with an order for 10 million one lat pieces in 1924.

The five lats coin stands out, featuring a Latvian maiden symbolising liberty. Designed by Rihard Zarinš and refined by sculptor Percy Metcalfe, the portrait became a national icon. Metcalfe’s plaster model shows the artistry that made him one of the most respected numismatic artists of his time.

11/06/2026

In 1920, Britain’s silver coinage shifted from the traditional sterling standard of 925 to 500 silver.

This change was driven by soaring silver prices following the First World War, which threatened the circulation of coins as their metal value exceeded their face value.

Trial pieces were urgently prepared, including half-crowns in various alloys, now preserved in our collection.

10/06/2026

The Annual Reports of the Royal Mint contain descriptions of all areas of the coin production process, documenting the artistic and technological development of coinage production across decades.

For many decades, reducing machines were a vital part of the design process. Even as late as the 1990s they were used to reduce large electrotypes of plaster models, up to 30cm in diameter, down to coin-sized designs for use in tooling. The reducing machine traced the design from large to small, like a pantograph, enabling the production of the steel reduction punch that would enable production of tooling.

The first reducing machine at the Royal Mint was bought by Benedetto Pistrucci in 1819, but it was the Janvier reducing machine that was installed in the early 1900s that proved far more reliable all the way through the century. The purchase and installation of this machine can be found in the 1901 Annual Report:

‘The Janvier reducing machine which was purchased early in the year was erected in a small room specially provided for it, and this has proved of the greatest service in preparing dies for the new coinage. This machine is driven very steadily by a small motor, a special advantage when, as often happens, the work has to be prolonged far into the night.’ (p. 65)

Read more in the 1901 Annual Report as part of our Online Library:

https://bit.ly/4oUYuy4

10/06/2026

The 18 winning stories from our Gold Short Story Competition are now available to read on our website!: https://bit.ly/3RyF8mY

We hope everyone enjoys reading these wonderful stories as much as we have.

Calling all young writers! Could you write a story of no more than 500 words and win £5,000 for your school library? Find out more on our website.

09/06/2026

The twenty pence coin entered general circulation on this day in 1982, marking a key moment in the evolution of Britain’s decimal coinage.

Although considered during the original decimalisation plans of the 1960s, early designs were rejected due to their large size. Inspired by the fifty pence, the final coin featured a distinctive heptagon shape and a crowned rose design by William Gardner.

Trial pieces, including one with an orb and Britannia Moneta, are preserved in the Royal Mint Museum collection.

The coin has since become one of the most recognisable and widely used of the decimal era.