Newsletter: December 2022
It has been a busy and eventful year at the Royal Mint Museum, during which we welcomed almost 400 guests, prepared two exhibitions for the Royal Mint Experience and answered over 1,100 enquiries from the public. Take a look below for some of our highlights.
January
The reign of Queen Elizabeth II saw more Jubilees than that of any other British monarch, presiding during her 70 years on the throne over periods of great national change and prosperity. By January plans were well underway for our national programme of activities bringing together people up and down the country to celebrate the momentous occasion. We received over 500 entries for our short story competition and were preparing to launch our Jubilee medal competition for undergraduate students.
February
On 6th February the Royal Mint Museum was pleased to announce the opening of our exhibition at the Royal Mint Experience: Happy and Glorious, a Celebration of Royal Jubilees. Opened to coincide with the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen, and the celebration of 70 years of her reign, the exhibition explored the evolution of Jubilees throughout British history using a variety of objects and images.
March
In March we expanded our ‘Museum in a Box’ care home project, which had already reached nearly 600 venues across the length and breadth of the country. We added another 25 boxes, to bring the total to 70 and expanded upon the items and audio-visual content included. The first two new boxes were sent to the appropriately named Queen Elizabeth Care home in Bromley, Kent, and Jubilee Court Care home in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.
April
In April congratulations went to 10-year-old Joshua Boholst from St Cecilia’s Catholic Primary School in Surrey, the winner of our short story competition, with his story, ‘Spyder’. Many people are afraid of spiders, but the main character in Joshua's story captured the imagination of our judges. He had his story illustrated and won a set of coins for himself as well as £5,000 worth of equipment and books for his school library.
May
In May a group of students from St John’s College, Cardiff were awarded a Gold CREST Award for their sixth form engineering project. The CREST Awards celebrate achievements in the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). The students worked with the Museum’s Education Manager, Amy Williams, and education charity STEM Cymru to research and create a prototype solution based on historical minting equipment.
June
The Royal Mint Advisory Committee (RMAC) was established in 1922 with the personal approval of George V. It exists to raise the standard of numismatic and medallic art in Britain by providing government departments with design advice on coins, official medals, seals and decorations. In June, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Committee our Collections Manager, Sarah Tyley, completed work digitising the first 200 meetings which can now be found in our online library.
July
In July congratulations went out to Trystan Vaughan, the winner of our Platinum Jubilee medal competition, who graduated from the University of South Wales in 2021. Trystan’s design was selected by our expert judging panel from an excellent and varied range of entries. Trystan's work features on the obverse two portraits of Her Late Majesty the Queen, one looking forwards and another looking back in reflection, and on the reverse a rose motif bearing seven petals that each illustrate a decade of the Queen’s reign.
August
It was all hands on deck in August as the team worked together to move objects into our new store. We moved over 500 objects ranging from framed artwork to delicate scientific equipment. These seemingly random items tell the lesser known, but nonetheless important, stories from the history of the Royal Mint, such as a bronze duck, created to test new casting methods, and two heavy metal crowns removed from the top of lamp posts when the Mint left its site on Tower Hill in London.
September
It was a sad month for us at the Royal Mint Museum as we reflected on the death of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The coinage and medals of her reign form a large part of our collection, from the earliest portrait plaster models by Mary Gillick to the more recent commemorative coins celebrating her Platinum Jubilee. She will always hold a special and prominent place in the Royal Mint Museum.
October
In October the Museum team took part in Diwali celebrations. We signed up to an event organised by the Royal Mint to learn more about the festival of light and the Museum’s Information and Research Manager, Chris Barker, spoke at a Diwali celebration event in London. Delivering a talk at the Arts Club in Mayfair to the TiE London group, which forms part of a global network of entrepreneurs, Chris provided guests with an insight into the 1,100-year history of the Royal Mint.
November
In memory of Her Late Majesty, our Exhibitions Manager, Abigail Kenvyn, created a small, but carefully curated, graphic-panel exhibition which was installed in The Royal Mint Experience. The Queen’s image, perhaps the most reproduced in human history, has defined The Royal Mint for 70 years and the display charts the work the Mint undertook throughout her long reign, from Great Seals of the Realm to coins for our pockets.
December
In December we celebrated the winner of our Platinum Jubilee Medal competition by presenting him with a struck example of his designs. The presentation took place in the Royal Mint Experience and was attended by Trystan and his family, along with the Museum team and two of the competition judges Dr Kevin Clancy and Lee Jones, Product Design Lead for the Royal Mint. After the presentation Trystan and his family were given a tour of the galleries and treated to tea and cake!
Thank you for following and supporting the Museum during this historic year. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!