MONEY MAKERS
Minted – a look inside the secret world of Britain’s...
THE old £1 coin is being replaced with a new 12-sided one later this month. TOBY WALNE, right, visits the money-makers at The Royal Mint to discover the secrets of minting coins. He also looks at how we should prepare for the huge coin shake-up and reveals the hidden value of small change in our pocket.
STEP INSIDE THE ROYAL MINT
TO CELEBRATE the arrival of the new £1 coin, The Royal Mint invited me to the factory where the money is made.
Situated on a 35-acre site on the outskirts of Llantrisant in Glamorgan, it looks like just another outof-town retail park.
The only thing that makes it stand out is a 10ft high perimeter fence heavily policed by spy cameras and topped with menacing razor wire. But it is what is hidden inside that fires up the imagination. Inspired by author Roald Dahl and his novel Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, I was hoping to be greeted by an army of Oompa Loompa workers hammering out pots of coins, singing away beside a magical river of gold.
Yet the secret world that creates cash rather than confectionery is just a noisy modern factory. There are 30 giant fruit machines coughing out a stream of coins just like a Las Vegas one-armed bandit having hit a never-ending jackpot.
Talking above the machine gun sound, The Royal Mint chief executive Adam Lawrence says: ‘These machines spit out 450 coins a minute. They can fill up the chests we use with £130,000 worth of £1 coins before being emptied.’
I dig my hands deep into the treasure chest. The £1 coins are still warm, having been minted moments ago. A cooling £8,000 flows through my fingers.
Lawrence says: ‘We wanted these new £1 coins to feel substantial. After all, the pound is a hugely important coin. The old coins served us well for more than three decades but it is time to make a change and make new ones. Over the next few months a lot of new money will need to be minted.’
Despite the industrial feel of this money factory, owned by the Treasury, it is hard not to be impressed by the treasure chests of glittering new coins that look like pirate booty.
The Royal Mint was founded more than 1,100 years ago during the reign of King Alfred the Great. From the 13th to 19th Century, it churned out pots of coins at the Tower of London, during which time the premises was also used for torture and beheadings, including the beheadings of two wives of Henry VIII, Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn.
The Royal Mint moved its production facilities to Llantrisant in 1968.
LOOK OUT FOR A MODERN MULE
MOST of the coins in your pocket are worth no more than their face value, but there are occasional anomalies. These are so-called ‘mules’.
Marc Arnold, of coin trader Cambridgeshire Coins in Cambridge, says: ‘When it comes to modern coins, mules are the most valuable due to their rarity. They were never meant to have left The Royal Mint because they are mistakes.’
The term ‘mule’ is a reference to the unlikelyely offspring of a horse and a donkey – and referss to two mismatched coin in sides having come e together.
The most valuable modern mule is a ‘new pence’ 1983 dated coin that is worth up to £1,000. All 2p pieces minted d before 1982 were e printed ‘new pence’ e’ while after this date ate ‘two pence.’ An estimated mated 500 mules slipped through the net in 1983 printed ted as ‘new pence’ with a 1983 coin date.
Another popular mule is an undated 20p piece that can sell for £100. This came about in 2008 when The Royal Mint launched a Royal Shield of Arms series of coins that did not include any date.d The date was supposed to have been moved from the ‘tail’ to the ‘head’ side at the time but the first batch accidentally kept the old head in place. It is believed thousands of these coins were accidentally put in circu-
lation before the mistake was spotted. Also, an estimated 3,250 ‘inverted’ £2 coins from 2015 were accidentally minted with the Queen’s ‘head’ offset by 150 degrees compared to the Britannia ‘tail’ – making her look upside down. This was caused by a die working loose. They are now worth up to £350.
SPECIAL ISSUES
THE £1 coin was first produced in 1983 when it replaced the old and often tatty £1 note. Since then there have been dozens of ‘tail’ variations. The rarest is a 2011 piece featuring the Edinburgh coat of arms that had a limited mintage of 935,000, which can sell for about £35. Others that are worth more than face value include the 2011 Cardiff City £1 coin that can go for £20 and the London City 2010 coin selling for £10.
Arnold says: ‘Modern coins that can be worth more than their face value are those part of a strictly limited edition run. Condition makes a big difference.’
For example, a 210,000-run of 50p coins from 2009 with a picture of a pagoda to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Kew Gardens now sell for £200 in mint condition.
Numismatists, the name given to coin collectors, are most interested in coins in proof condition. These are newly minted on polished dies and have never been in circulation. Test ‘proofs’ for the new 12-sided £1 coins that have been the first struck and deemed a sharper quality than others are currently changing hands for £50.
Collectors should not confuse rare special issues with commemorative coins, such as the £5 released by The Royal Mint to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday last year.
Although such coins can sell for more than face value, they are usually mementos and do not rise in value.
REFLECT ON THE HISTORY
ALTHOUGH modern coins can occasionally be worth more than their face value, the most sought after pieces are usually historic artefacts.
For example, one of the most valuable is a 1703 Queen Anne coin worth up to £375,000. It has a ‘Vigo’ stamp that was put there to mark that it was struck from gold off Spanish galleons seized at the Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702.
Keith Heddle, managing director of the coin collectors’ investment arm of trader Stanley Gibbons, says: ‘Modern coins are rarely going to make much money unless particularly rare, but those with historic significance can be really valuable as they are also part of our rich heritage.’
He adds: ‘Some of the older coins transport you back in time. Even if you cannot afford an investment grade coin you can still enjoy the thrill of owning a great historic piece for just a few pounds.’
Roman coins can be picked up for anything from just a few pounds to several thousand. A well-used Roman coin that might have been minted for a relatively unknown emperor such as Postumus from 260 to 269 AD can still be found for £5.
But if you fancy a memento of Emperor Caligula who reigned between 37 and 41 AD a top condition silver denarius might cost you £4,000.
The earliest coins were hammered rather than milled and were often ‘clipped’ with the remnants used to make other money.
However, in the 16th Century they started to be milled and came with the Latin motto ‘Decus Et Tutamen’ – Ornament and Safeguard – as a stamp of approval to fight forgers.
The coin market is susceptible to fakes so it is important to trade through a reputable dealer.
Details of traders can be found through the British Numismatic Trade Association.