British Coins Museum Display

G'day,
I'm sure that every modern mint has a "reference question", that would make a great museum, if it were to be displayed.

In the early days of the Australian mints, the engraving was done in London. For some reason, sample coins were sent back to London. So, when one reads about the rarest Australian coins, there always seems to be at least one specimen in the " Royal Mint Collection, London".
There is a Museum of Money in Sydney, which I believe is non-profit, but private.

Also, the British had an institution called "the Court of the Pyx", which used to sit in a chamber at the rear of Westminster Abbey. Once a year, the Court would sit, with a jury, and the mint master would tender coins. The jury had to be satisfied that the samples conformed to the law.
The rest of the year, the Pyx Chamber was a museum. As I recall, it was under the care of "English Heritage", who also look after the Tower of London.

Peter in Oz

I haven't heard that the Queen has a personal coin collection. As Peter said, The Royal Mint has an archive of specimens and patterns; I believe this collection resides at the RM's facility in Wales. If you wanted to inspect the collection, you'd probably need to present your bona fides there.

The British Museum also has an extensive collection of coins, ancient through to modern.


This was because the Australian mints were branch mints of The Royal Mint, so the Master of the Mint was ultimately responsible for the quality of the products of the colonial mints, as well as the London mint.

I would imagine that the Queen (or more properly the Royal Family) does have a private coin collection (separate from that of The Royal Mint) as they were always presented with trials and proofs and the like butit does not rival the stamp collection (which I have zero interest in) where there is a full time curator ot it employed.

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page4979.asp

... and see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_the_Pyx

Peter