Uncategorised
How are your coins Quality Assured? The Trial of the Pyx!
As Change Checkers, we love it when new coins are issued. But how are they quality assured? And what processes do they have to go through before ending up in our collections or our pockets?
Since 1282, an independent procedure called the Trial of the Pyx has been responsible for ensuring that newly minted coins (both circulating and commemorative) meet the legal specifications for weight, size and metallic composition. The process takes place annually and can take 2-3 months to complete, but how exactly does it work?
Credit: Matt Brown, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Phase 1: The Opening
After striking, The Royal Mint randomly selects coins from each batch of denominations to be quality assessed. These coins are sealed in bags of 50 and stored in Pyx chests until the day of the trial.
On the day of the opening ceremony, the Pyx chests are transferred to Goldsmith’s Company Hall in London. The ceremony is presided over by the senior judge in the Court of Justice, the King’s Remembrancer, giving the trial the status of a Court of Law.
Credit: Firebrace, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Did you know? The word Pyx comes from the Latin word ‘Pyxis’, meaning small box.
The trial jury, which is made up of Liverymen and more senior figures of the Goldsmiths’ Company, open each sealed bag of coins and place 1 into a copper bowl for testing by the London Assay Office, the remaining 49 are placed into a wooden bowl to be weighed.
Phase 2: Testing
The coins selected for testing are sent to the Assay Office where they are compared against a Trial plate. These metal plates, made of gold, silver, platinum, nickel and zinc, are held at the National Measurement and Regulation Office. The oldest surviving Trial plate, from 1477, resides in The Royal Mint Museum.
Credit: The Royal Mint
Next, the base metal and precious metal coins are separated, with the base metal ones going through X-Ray fluorescence spectrometry, and the precious metal ones sent for laboratory chemical testing. The main purpose of these tests is to break down the coins’ composition to check their metal content meets specifications.
Phase 3: Verdict
After rigorous testing, the Assay Office decide if the coins meet all specifications set out in the Coinage Act or by Royal Proclamation. Their recommendations are passed to the Senior Master and the King’s Remembrancer, who instruct the Goldsmiths’ Company.
Credit: The Goldsmiths’ Company
The final verdict is delivered to the Chancellor of the Exchequer or their deputy and the Deputy Master of The Royal Mint.
The oldest judicial procedure in the country
The Trial of the Pyx dates back as far as the 12th century, making it one of the oldest judicial procedures in the country. As such, should the coinage be found to be substandard, the punishment for the Master of the Mint would be a fine, removal from office or even imprisonment!
Luckily however, modern coin production processes have become far more reliable, therefore the last Master of the Mint to be punished was Sir Isaac Newton in 1696. Newton was, of course, celebrated on the Sir Isaac Newton 50p in 2017, a coin that quickly become popular with collectors. Find out what makes this coin so interesting >>
Did you know about this process? Or perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to attend the trial as a spectator? Let us know in the comments below!
The FIRST King Charles III 50p joins the Scarcity Index!
It’s the Scarcity Index update we’ve all been waiting for, as the FIRST EVER King Charles III 50p finally makes an appearance!
4.9 million of these coins entered circulation in December 2022 and collectors have since been finding them in their change, adding them to their collections and swapping with other collectors.
But it’s time to reveal just how sought-after this new release really is…
Continue reading to find out and to discover the UK’s most sought after circulation 10p, 50p and £2s and see where the coins in your collection rank against the others you can find in your change.
This information has been compiled using data from the Change Checker Swap Centre and presented in the easy to use indexes below, with arrows to signify how many places up or down a coin has moved since the last Scarcity Index update.
50p Scarcity Index
The 50p index has seen quite a bit of movement since our last update, with a few coins shooting up the ranks, and a few gradually moving down. However, perhaps the most exciting update is the addition of the FIRST EVER King Charles III 50p!
The 2022 Queen Elizabeth II Memorial 50p (marked above with a star) appears on the scarcity index for the first time since entering circulation late last year. On 8th December 2022, 4.9 million 50ps entered circulation featuring King Charles III for the first time. We tracked the new coin up and down the country with our collector map, and it turned out the place you’re most likely to find a King Charles III 50p was Newcastle!
The Queen Elizabeth II Memorial 50p currently ranks as common on our scarcity index as it may not have made its way into many collections, and those who have found one have probably been reluctant to swap it. Watch this space though, as this new circulating coin could cause quite the shake up in the next Scarcity Index update!
Aside from the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial 50p, the biggest mover is the Ironside 50p, which has fallen 16 places since the last update. It’s unclear what’s caused this 10 year old coin to fall in the ranks, however with a circulating mintage of 7,000,000, you’re fairly likely to come across one in your change.
Another big mover is the Handball Olympic 50p which has climbed an astonishing 14 places, putting it in the top 10 with the other Olympic 50ps and of course the Kew Gardens 50p, which remains in the top spot.
If you’re new to collecting and want to find out more about circulation coins, you can check out our fact files here >>
Otherwise, keep reading to find out which 10ps and £2 coins you should be looking out for.
10p Scarcity Index
Whilst the top and bottom of our latest 10p Scarcity Index has remained stable, there has been a bit of a shake up among the coins in the middle.
Whilst Oak and Yeoman Warders have moved up 8 and 6 places respectively, Bond and NHS have both moved down by 10 places.
This comes as some surprise, as these were previously considered some of the most popular of the A-Z 10p coins.
It’s worth remembering that this Index is only ranking the 10ps against each other, when really even the ones at the bottom of the list are still incredibly sought-after and even now (4 years on since they were last released) they are still the coins every collector seems to talk about!
And that’s no surprise, as a maximum of JUST 304,000 of each A-Z 10p design entered circulation across 2018 and 2019 – making them some of the rarest coins out there. So make sure you keep your eyes peeled for them in your change!
£2 Scarcity Index
The top of the £2 index has remained stable, with those Commonwealth Games £2s proving to be the ones to look out for. And, with mintages ranging from just 485,000 to 771,750, you can see why these rare £2s are so sought-after!
We tend to see less movement on the £2 index due to the fact less coins have entered circulation in recent years.
However, it’s worth remembering just how rare and collectable some of these coins are, even after being in circulation for so many years.
A few others creeping up the ranks are the Florence Nightingale, London 2012 Handover and Darwin £2s, whilst Trinity House and Shakespeare Histories have taken a bit of a dip.
But, with less £2s entering circulation, it’s certainly worth holding onto any coins you can find, before they’re snapped up!
How your Scarcity Index works
Generally collectors have relied on mintage figures to identify the scarcest coins. But they only tell part of the story.
Trying to find a good quality coin from 15 – 20 years ago, even for a higher mintage issue, is much more challenging than a more recent issue, as coins become damaged over time and are ultimately removed from circulation.
What’s more, some designs are more hoarded than others by people who might not normally collect coins – for example the First World War £2 Coin series.
Finally, it can be up to a couple of years before the Royal Mint eventually confirms the actual mintage for an issue.
That’s why we have combined the mintage information with two other key pieces of information:
- How many of each design are listed as “collected” by Change Checkers, indicating the relative ease of finding a particular coin
- The number of times a design has been requested as a swap over the previous 3 months, showing the current level of collector demand
Importantly, as new coins are released and popularity rises and falls across different designs, the Scarcity Index will be updated quarterly. This allows Change Checkers to track the relative performance of the UK’s circulation coins.
How much are my coins worth?
The Scarcity Index doesn’t necessarily equate to value, but it is certainly a good indicator. For example, the Kew Gardens 50p coin commands a premium of up to 200 times face value on eBay and is unsurprisingly top of the 50p Index.
You can use our 6 point guide to help you determine a more realistic value for your coins.
What about £1 Coins?
The £1 Scarcity Index has already been published for the Round £1 coins. Because they are no longer being issued, this is now set in stone.
Receive new UK coins without the hassle of placing orders on the day of release!
Join the Change Checker UK CERTIFIED BU Subscription Service and receive new UK coins sent to your door without the hassle of placing orders on the day of release!
Don’t miss your chance to get ahead of the crowd and be one of the very first collectors to receive the latest UK new issue coins as soon as possible after their release.
Coronation 50ps ENTER CIRCULATION!
On 10th August 2023, 5 million King Charles III Coronation 50ps entered circulation and we want to know where you’ve seen one! Click here to let us know and view our interactive Collector Map >>
Issued to commemorate the Coronation of King Charles III, the Coronation 50p is only the second 50p to enter circulation featuring the King on the obverse.
Uncrowned portrait
Unlike the collector version of the Coronation 50p, which features a special crowned portrait of the King on the obverse, the version entering circulation will feature the standard uncrowned portrait by Martin Jennings.
Typically, male monarchs don’t wear crowns on UK coinage, however as a special issue for the Coronation, the collector versions of the Coronation 50p and £5 both feature His Majesty wearing the Tudor Crown.
The circulation version of the Coronation 50p will feature the uncrowned portrait of King Charles – the same one that has appeared on all UK commemorative coins issued since the portrait was announced.
So, the hunt is on to find a Coronation 50p in your change with the uncrowned portrait and keep it next to your crowned collector version.
If you don’t already have the Coronation 50p in your collection, you can get yours in Brilliant Uncirculated quality here >>
The second EVER King Charles III circulating 50p
Back in December 2022, 4.9 million Queen Elizabeth II Memoriam 50ps entered circulation. As it was the first ever circulating coin to bear the King’s portrait, collectors raced to find it in their change.
We asked you to help us hunt down the first King Charles III 50p by entering your postcode into our map as soon as you found it. 113 locations were recorded on our collector map all the way from Inverness to Penzance, but it turned out the place where you’re most likely to find the first King Charles 50p in your change was Newcastle!
Have you found the Coronation 50p in your change?
We asked you to let us know where you found the Coronation 50p in your change so we could work out where you’re most likely to find one.
Submissions are now closed but you can view the collector map here to see where they’ve been popping up.
Secure the 2023 UK Certified BU Coronation 50p for your collection
Don’t miss out on securing the crowned collector version of the Coronation 50p, click here to get yours >>