Community Stories

Sharing something cool from work (coin/history/law related)

tyrantlizardrex
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Evening all,

As some of you possibly know, my day job is in Comms and Marketing.

What you possibly don't know, is that the Comms and Marketing I do if for an almost 700 year old City of London institution for those working in precious metals (Jewellers, Silversmiths, and Goldsmiths), called The Goldsmiths' Company.

We're the place that Hallmarking (the process of testing items made out of precious metals, and applying marks that certify the what/when/where/who) began, and part of our remit is to ensure the quality of the coins that the Royal Mint produce - both for buying things in the shops, and as precious metal collectors items.

Each year, the mint submit coins to the Company for testing at the Trial of the Pyx - one of the oldest judicial processes in the world, and one of the oldest forms of consumer protection.

Last year, we brought a brilliant filmmaker in to make us a film of the Pyx, and today it is live:

https://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/com...l-of-the-pyx-775-years-of-consumer-protection


Very cool, very nerdy, beautifully shot, and probably a subject matter thats dipping into the wheelhouse of a few collectors here I suspect.
 
Mark020
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Brilliant. Thanks for posting
 
Archer
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Thanks mate - that was excellent!
 
Horoticus
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Love. It. I started collecting coins as a child. Many thanks for sharing, Chris!
 
Dsloan
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tyrantlizardrex tyrantlizardrex
Evening all,

As some of you possibly know, my day job is in Comms and Marketing.

What you possibly don't know, is that the Comms and Marketing I do if for an almost 700 year old City of London institution for those working in precious metals (Jewellers, Silversmiths, and Goldsmiths), called The Goldsmiths' Company.

We're the place that Hallmarking (the process of testing items made out of precious metals, and applying marks that certify the what/when/where/who) began, and part of our remit is to ensure the quality of the coins that the Royal Mint produce - both for buying things in the shops, and as precious metal collectors items.

Each year, the mint submit coins to the Company for testing at the Trial of the Pyx - one of the oldest judicial processes in the world, and one of the oldest forms of consumer protection.

Last year, we brought a brilliant filmmaker in to make us a film of the Pyx, and today it is live:

https://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/com...l-of-the-pyx-775-years-of-consumer-protection


Very cool, very nerdy, beautifully shot, and probably a subject matter thats dipping into the wheelhouse of a few collectors here I suspect.

Nice! My day job is video production, and I mostly do short doc promo work. I love this sort of thing, where you get a glimpse into something totally new in just a few minutes.

It's awesome that you have access to so many stories - do you get to do other fun content? I would think that metals gives you access to all sorts of stories about history, art, jewelry, commerce, etc.
 
Joe_A
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The video is fascinating.

I learned something entirely new to me.

I notice that the coins are gently handled by gloved humans, but they are also tossed into machines and sacks in between various aspects of the testing process without regard to marring or scratching, which leads me to a question:

Are all the coins - or most of the coins - for use in circulation?

I assume collector coins may be treated differently.

Cheers,

Joe
 
X350 XJR
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Very cool and perfect timing as I just sat down with a bowl of popcorn.
 
lindo
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Thanks for this. It reminded me of this 260 BC gold coin from Carthage I sold a few years ago when I dispersed most of a collection of ancient coins.

Considering that each die was hand cut and the coin hand hammered, and that this one was only 22mm in diameter, the workmanship and artistry of those ancient times still awes me.

252940.jpg
 
tyrantlizardrex
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Dsloan Dsloan
Nice! My day job is video production, and I mostly do short doc promo work. I love this sort of thing, where you get a glimpse into something totally new in just a few minutes.

It's awesome that you have access to so many stories - do you get to do other fun content? I would think that metals gives you access to all sorts of stories about history, art, jewelry, commerce, etc.

We’re fairly new to filmmaking (my department has only existed 6 years or so), but have leaned in to making cool, interesting stuff that shares our place in national life, particularly around hallmarking -

We made a series on the Platinum Jubilee mark: https://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/company-news/film-the-platinum-jubilee-mark

And a nice promo for the King Charles III Coronation mark: https://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/company-news/film-the-coronation-mark

We run (and have done since 1983), Goldsmiths’ Fair - an annual selling exhibition for independent, UK based jewellers with 6 or less at the bench, and the films for that have been frankly spectacular in the last several years. Last years film visits 6 makers at the bench, and makes me want to work metal!

 
tyrantlizardrex
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Joe_A Joe_A
The video is fascinating.

I learned something entirely new to me.

I notice that the coins are gently handled by gloved humans, but they are also tossed into machines and sacks in between various aspects of the testing process without regard to marring or scratching, which leads me to a question:

Are all the coins - or most of the coins - for use in circulation?

I assume collector coins may be treated differently.

Cheers,

Joe

There are two types of coins that must go through the Trial:

1 - definitives/circulation: these are the coins you use to buy things in the shops. A lot of these are produced, so a fairly large proportion of what is sent in for test is made up of these. Those go through the mechanical count machines, and are the X-Ray tested on the machine you see Will talking about. Members of the Jury oversee the process of the coins going through the machines.

2: collectible - these are the precious metal and some of the new enamel filled coins. These go to the count table and are hand counted and visually inspected by the jurors. This may be surprising, but the gloves are a recent addition and mostly to protect the hands of the jurors, as some of the very big coins are “unfinished”, being products created just to comply with the law around testing, and along with being very heavy (15kg was the heaviest last year), can be quite sharp.

This years trial is coming up - it’s going to be interesting to see exactly what the Mint have been up to!
 
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