News of an error in UK’s Royal Mint 20 pence coin (20p) blasted through the media this week, creating an intensified fervor in collectors trying to find and buy the coins.
Prices for the coin, which have a face value of about 33 cents US, have shot up with auction bidding reaching as high as several hundred dollars. (See current eBay auctions
.)
According to reports, the Mint issued tens of thousands "year-less" 20p coins toward the end of 2008. Read the rest of this entry »
The Royal Mint has announced another year of financial success and improved profitability – a further year of improved performance.
An operating profit before exceptional items of £9. 6 million (2006-07: £8. 7m) has been delivered on sales of £131. 8 million, and profit after exceptional items and interest was £7. 2 million, compared with £1. 2 million for the previous year. This improved financial performance, which exceeds the Ministerial Target, means the Royal Mint will pay a dividend of £3. 9 million into the public purse.
These results reflect the Royal Mint’s position as the leading exporting mint in the world, with approximately 15% of the available global market, consolidating its status as a major supplier of steel-plated coinage products.
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Shield of Royal Arms to feature on first new design in 40 years
The Royal Mint today unveiled innovative new designs to feature on the reverse of seven of the United Kingdom’s coins.
Chosen through a public competition that attracted more than 4,000 entries, the coins feature different details of the Shield of the Royal Arms and when placed together, will reveal the complete shield of arms.
This is the first new design to feature on many of the coins in more than forty years, and the first time a single design has been used across a range of coins in this way. The coins are expected to enter circulation gradually from this summer, featuring alongside the current 27 billion coins currently in circulation, including the more than 800 million 50p coins featuring Britannia.
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The British Royal Mint has released a new 2008 commemorative £5 coin celebrating the 450th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth I. The attractive, limited edition commemorative coin comes in Brilliant Uncirculated and Proof versions and bears a uniquely interesting reverse design.
On 17 November 1558 the 25-year-old Elizabeth was proclaimed Queen of England. According to the British Royal Mint:
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