page_title: Royal Mint
section_title: Tower Hill
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Mint / 1805 to 1914 / Tower Hill
caption_attribution_description: The (former) Royal Mint (1807-9) by Robert Smirke and James Johnson
context_page_description: The Royal Mint is a government-owned mint that produces coins for the United Kingdom. Operating under the name Royal Mint Ltd, the mint is a limited company that is wholly owned by Her Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclusive contract to supply all the nation's coinage. As well as minting circulating coins for use domestically and internationally, the mint also produces planchets, commemorative coins, various types of medals and precious metal bullion. The mint exports to an average of 60 countries a year, making up 70% of its total sales. Formed over 1,100 years ago, the mint was historically part of a series of mints that became centralised to produce coins for the Kingdom of England, all of Great Britain and eventually most of the British Empire. The original London mint from which the Royal Mint is the successor was established in 886 AD and operated within the Tower of London for approximately 800 years before moving to what is now called Royal Mint Court where it remained until the 1960s. As Britain followed the rest of the world in decimalising its currency, the Mint moved from London to a new 38 acres plant in Llantrisant, Glamorgan, Wales, where it has remained since.
context_section_description: Construction started in 1805 on the new purpose-built mint on Tower Hill, opposite the Tower of London, and it was completed by 1809. In 1812 the move became official: the keys of the old mint were ceremoniously delivered to the Constable of the Tower. Facing the front of the site stood the Johnson Smirke Building, named for its designer James Johnson and builder Robert Smirke. Construction was supervised by the architect John Lidbury Poole (father of the famous singer, Elizabeth Poole). This building was flanked on both sides by gatehouses behind which another building housed the mint's new machinery. A number of other smaller buildings were also erected, which housed mint officers and staff members. The entire site was protected by a boundary wall which was patrolled by the Royal Mint's military guard.
  By 1856, the mint was beginning to prove inefficient: there were irregularities in minted coins' fineness and weight. Instructed by Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, the Master of the Mint Thomas Graham was informed that unless the mint could raise its standards and become more economical it would be broken up and placed under management by contractors. Graham sought advice from German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann, who in turn recommended his student George Frederick Ansell to resolve the mint's issues. In a letter to the Treasury dated 29 October 1856, Ansell was put forward as candidate. He was appointed as a temporary clerk on 12 November 1856, with a £120 a year salary.
  Upon taking office, Ansell discovered that the weighing of metals at the mint was extremely loose. At the mint it had been the custom to weigh silver to within 0.5 troy ounces (oz) (15.5 g) and gold to a pennyweight (0.05 oz); however these standards meant losses were being made from overvalued metals. In one such case Ansell delivered 7920.00 oz of gold to the mint, where it was weighed by an official at 7918.15 oz, a difference of 1.85 oz. Requesting a second weighing on more accurate scale, the bullion was certified to weigh 7919.98 oz, far closer to the previous measurement which was off by 960 grains. To increase the accuracy of weights, more precise weighing equipment was ordered and the tolerance was revised to 0.10 oz for silver and 0.01 oz for gold. Between 1856 and 1866 the old scales were gradually removed and replaced with scales made by Messrs. De Grave, Short, and Fanner; winners of a 1862 International Exhibition prize award for work relating to balances.
  Ansell also noticed a loss of gold during the manufacturing process. He found that 15 to 20 oz could be recovered from the sweep, that is the leftover burnt rubbish from the minting process, which was often left in open boxes for many months before being removed. Wanting to account for every particle, and knowing that it was physically impossible for gold just to disappear, he put down the lost weight to a combination of oil, dust and different types of foreign matter amongst the gold.
  In 1859, the Royal Mint rejected a batch of gold that was found to be too brittle for the minting of gold sovereigns. Analysis revealed the presence of small amounts of antimony, arsenic and lead. With Ansell's background in chemistry, he persuaded the Royal Mint to allow him to experiment with the alloy, and was ultimately able to produce 167,539 gold sovereigns. On a second occasion in 1868, it was again discovered that gold coins, this time totalling £500,000 worth, were being produced with inferior gold. Although the standard practice at the mint was for rejected coins (known as brockages) to be melted down, many entered general circulation and the mint was forced to return thousands of ounces of gold to the Bank of England. Although Ansell offered to re-melt the substandard coins, his offer was rejected, causing a row between him and senior mint chiefs, which ultimately led to him being removed from his position at the mint.
caption: Johnson Smirke Building in 2007
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