•    The Queen’s Beasts 10kg gold coin is one of the coins being sent to the Trial of the Pyx, an annual judicial process that upholds the quality of the nation’s coinage.
•    As the responsibility of the Goldsmiths’ Company, the 700-year-old Trial ensures every coin made by the Royal Mint meets a strict set of standards aimed at protecting consumers.
•    The 10kg gold coin will be the largest coin to have been tested at the Trial and will be assessed by a jury of Goldsmiths’ Company members for its fineness and quality.

The 10kg 'Queen's Beasts' coin

The largest coin ever created by The Royal Mint, the 10-kilo Queen’s Beasts gold proof, is one of the coins sent to the Trial of the Pyx this year – a 700-year-old judicial process carried out by the Goldsmiths’ Company.

The 10-kilo coin is part of the ‘Masterworks’ collection from The Royal Mint – a new series of larger, one-of-a-kind pieces for collectors. The coin was made using a combination of traditional skills and innovative technology, creating a unique and beautiful work of art. 

Other special coins being tested this year include a 9.5kg ‘Masterwork’ celebrating Her Majesty the Queen’s 95th birthday. The coin bears the inscription ‘my heart and my devotion’ taken from the Queen’s speech first televised on the Christmas broadcast of 1957.

Also present at the Trial is the world’s most visually secure bullion coin, the Britannia, which contains four innovative security features. These include a latent image, surface animation, micro-text and tincture lines – all of which provide security and peace of mind for consumers. 

As The Royal Mint continues to diversify as a business, precious metals pieces are becoming more popular with investors as a store of wealth. A sample of these new coins struck by The Royal Mint are rigorously and independently checked for fineness and quality by an independent jury of Goldsmiths’ Company members, before further analysis by the Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office. The Trial is opened by the senior judge in the Royal Courts of Justice, known as the Queen's Remembrancer.

Anne Jessopp, CEO, The Royal Mint commented: “As Britain’s oldest company, we have an incredible 1,100-year heritage which includes the ancient Trial of the Pyx ceremony. We are the only Mint in the world to be subject to such rigorous independent testing, and it upholds the trust and quality that The Royal Mint is famous for. 
“Our business is evolving, and the coins we submit to the Trial of the Pyx today look very different to those submitted in the twelfth century. This year two of the largest coins ever made by The Royal Mint will appear before the trial – including a 10kg gold Masterwork which took 400 hours to make. The Trial will authenticate the quality and metal content of the coin reinforcing its value as a piece of art.”

Dame Lynne Brindley, Prime Warden (Chairs the Board) of the Goldsmiths’ Company commented: “There are two sides to every coin. There are two sides to the future of coins: less daily use but renewed popularity of their commemorative and investment possibilities. Coins are items of beauty, fine craftsmanship and design excellence. The Trial of the Pyx retains its relevance to consumers, collectors and the digital economy, and the Goldsmiths’ Company is very proud to be involved today, as we have been for seven hundred years”.

 

Read more about the Trial of the Pyx here.