List of products by brand The Royal Mint

The Royal Mint

The Royal Mint is a government-owned mint that produces coins for the United Kingdom. Operating under the name Royal Mint Ltd, the mint is a limited company that is wholly owned by Her Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclusive contract to supply all the nation's coinage. As well as minting circulating coins for use domestically and internationally, the mint also produces planchets, commemorative coins, various types of medals and precious metal bullion. The mint exports to an average of 60 countries a year, making up 70% of its total sales. Formed over 1,100 years ago, the mint was historically part of a series of mints that became centralized to produce coins for the Kingdom of England, all of Great Britain and eventually most of the British Empire. The original London mint from which the Royal Mint is the successor was established in 886 AD and operated within the Tower of London for approximately 800 years before moving to what is now called Royal Mint Court where it remained until the 1960's. As Britain followed the rest of the world in converting its currency to decimals, the Mint moved from London to a new 38 acres plant in Llantrisant, Glamorgan, Wales, where it has remained since. In 2009, after recommendations for the mint to be privatized, The Royal Mint ceased being an executive government agency and became a state-owned company wholly owned by HM Treasury. Since then, the mint has expanded its business interests by reviving its bullion trade and developing a £9 million visitor center.

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 currency apart from banknotes which are printed by the Bank of England. On average it produces 2 billion pound sterling coins struck for general circulation every year, with an estimated 28 billion pieces circulating altogether. Outside the UK, the mint provides services to over 60 different countries including New Zealand and many Caribbean nations by producing national currencies or supplying ready to strike planchets. 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. The Mint also regularly produces commemorative coins for the collector's market, with a range of varying quality and made of different precious metals.

Another 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 their 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 different sizes.

Minting of bullion coins began in 1957 to meet a demand for authentic sovereign coins, which suffered from heavy counterfeiting. Coins were released almost every year alongside proof versions up to 1982, when production was discontinued. In 1987 the mint started to produce a new type of bullion coin: the gold 1 oz Britannia coin with a face value of £100. A silver version with a face value of £2 was also released in 1997. Production of the previously discontinued sovereigns and half sovereigns resumed in 2000. In 2013 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. From 2014 a lunar coin series was minted annually in celebration of the Lunar New Year; and in 2016 a series featuring The Queen's Beasts began.

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 block-chain to trade and invest in gold. Operated by CME Group, the technology is to be created by technology companies AlphaPoint and BitGo. 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 that is backed 100% by the London Bullion Market Association responsible sourcing program. Investors can also convert RMAU into coins and gold bars. The Royal Mint partnered with white label ETF firm HANetf.

Royal Mint Products

     • Britannia series
     • Lunar Series
     • Queen's Beast series
     • Gairsoppa rounds and bars
     • Royal Mint Refinery rounds