Royal Mint (2024)

FAQs

What does Royal Mint do? ›

The Royal Mint (RM) is the world's leading export mint, making coins and medals for an average of 60 countries every year. However, its first responsibility is to make and distribute United Kingdom coins as well as to supply blanks and official medals.

Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclusive contract to supply the nation's coinage.

The Royal Mint has worked with precious metals for over a millennium and we are The Original Maker of trusted investment solutions in gold, silver and platinum.

Why are your prices higher than the market price for the metal? Bullion products from The Royal Mint incur a margin or 'premium' on top of the cost of the metal. This cost covers the design, craftsmanship, production and management of the products that we sell.

During the year The Royal Mint delivered an operating profit of £17.7 million, while underlying profits grew to £24.4 million (£20.8 million 2021-22). This enabled the Group to make a significant £6.8 million investment in two new business divisions as part of its' five-year transformation strategy.

The Royal Mint is owned by His Majesty's Treasury, and will pay a record dividend payment of £5 million for the year ending 31^st March 2022. A new auction programme was launched to offer rare and historic numismatic works of art.

The Royal Mint is the largest and most technically advanced minting facility in the world. We make more than 3.3 billion coins and blanks a year for in excess of 30 countries at our site in Llantrisant, South Wales.

In 1933 the Royal Mint decided to temporarily cease the production of pennies. This was due to a surplus of the coin already in circulation. Millions of Victorian and Edwardian pennies still changed hands in the 1930s.

What is the rarest coin to own? ›

1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle

Originally, there were about 445,500 of the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle coins, though they never officially circulated. Now, only 13 known coins remain, one of which is privately owned. The 1933 version of this coin is perhaps the rarest and most sought-after one of all.

1943 Bronze Lincoln Penny. Now we're getting into some serious money. The 1943 Bronze Lincoln penny has gone for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but it could go for as much as $1 million in perfect shape, according to Urban Aunty — as long as it's missing a mint mark (and thus from Philadelphia).

The Royal Mint, with its longstanding history and expertise in precious metals, provides a secure and reliable platform for selling your gold as well as other precious metals.

Buying bullion direct from The Royal Mint couldn't be easier. Create and verify your Royal Mint Invest account in less than 10 minutes, add funds and purchase gold, silver or platinum bullion immediately.

To book tickets to The Royal Mint Experience, please visit The Royal Mint's website. Visitors will be charged an additional £7.50 to strike their own coin as part of their tour.

The Royal Mint's primary responsibility is to produce and distribute United Kingdom coins, alongside supplying blanks and official medals. We are also the world's leading export mint, making coins and medals for more than 30 countries every year.

Record profitability and revenue in Consumer division:

For the third consecutive year the Group's profit was entirely driven by its Consumer division – which offers precious metals investments, collectables, and historic coins.

With the mass production of currency, the production cost is weighed when minting coins. For example, it costs the United States Mint much less than 25 cents to make a quarter (a 25 cent coin), and the difference in production cost and face value (called seigniorage) helps fund the minting body.

Over the centuries, The Royal Mint has evolved to become a sophisticated manufacturer which operates today as a government-owned company.