Trial Plates
The Museum is home to a spectacular series of gold and silver trial plates dating from 1477, these plates being the officially approved standards against which the composition of coins can be independently checked by comparative assay.
Browse highlights of the trial plates collection below.
Henry VIII silver trial plate
Assayers’ trial plates show the extent of the debasement that took place during the reign of Henry VIII.
Trial plate or ingot
A debate over which is the earliest surviving trial plate has centred on this object.
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Trial of the Pyx
Since at least 1282, coins produced by the Royal Mint have been checked at the Trial of the Pyx.
Isaac Newton, Warden and Master of the Royal Mint 1696-1727
Newton took an active interest in mint affairs.
The Royal Mint Coat of Arms
In 1978 a previously unnoticed draft Grant of Arms to the Royal Mint was discovered.
Charles Fremantle, Deputy Master of the Royal Mint 1868-1894
A key figure in the history of the Royal Mint.