Royal Mint

The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, the coins of the United Kingdom. The Royal Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, producing coins for England and eventually Great Britain. Since 2010 it has operated as Royal Mint Ltd, a company owned by HM Treasury, under an exclusive contract to supply all coinage for the UK. Royal Mint Ltd is 100% owned by HM Treasury, though the latter delegates shareholder responsibilities to the Shareholder Executive.

As well as minting coins for the UK, The Royal Mint also mints and exports coins to many other countries and produces military medals, commemorative medals, and other such items for governments, schools and businesses, being known as the world's leading exporting mint. Responsibility for the security of the site falls to the Ministry of Defence Police, who provide an armed contingent.

In 1968 The Royal Mint began to move its operations from Tower Hill in the City of London to Llantrisant, Mid Glamorgan, Wales, and has operated on a single site in Llantrisant since 1980. At Llantrisant it holds an extensive collection of coins dating from the 16th century onwards, housed in eighty cabinets made by Elizabeth II's cabinet maker, Hugh Swann. The site occupies 38 acres (15 ha) and employs over 900 people.

Royal Mint (Denmark)

The Royal Mint of Denmark (Danish: Den Kongelige Mønt) is a mint established by the Danish monarchy in the early 16th century, which currently by law is the only company allowed to mint the Danish currency (DKK). The Danish State now owns the company as an entity belonging to the Danish Central Bank.

History

Origins

Production of coins in Denmark goes about 1000 years back. For the first 500 years it took place at various towns around the country. The first king to start a production of coins in Copenhagen was King Hans. It is believed that it took place in the celler of his house. Owned by Magasin du Nord, the vaulted premises still exist today at 6 Vingaardstræde where they form part of the restaurant Kong Hans Kælder.

In 1541 the Royal Mint relocated to the nearby grounds of a former monastery of the Poor Clare nuns, which had been confiscated in 1536 when Denmark officially became a Lutheran nation.

One of the streets which emerged as the city built upon the former monastery gardens was named Gammel Mønt (English: Old Mint) in memory of its occupation of the site.

Royal Mint (Spain)

The Royal Mint of Spain (Spanish: Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre – Real Casa de la Moneda [National Coinage and Stamp Factory – Royal Mint], abbreviated as FNMT-RCM) is the national mint of Spain.

There were several public and private mints in Spain until Philip V, the first Bourbon King of Spain, decided in the 18th century to make minting coinage a State monopoly.

During the reign of Isabella II there were seven public mints, located in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Pamplona, Jubia, Segovia and Manila (in the Philippines), and each one had its own cypher and signs. When the peseta became the national currency in 1869, only the Royal Mint in Madrid was in operation.

In 1893 the Mint (Casa de la Moneda) and the Stamp Factory (Fábrica del Sello), which so far had been two different establishments sharing a building in Plaza de Colón, merged to create the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre.

Banknote production for the Bank of Spain began in 1940. A new building came into use in 1964, in which the passport and national identification card were produced. Later, bingo cards and tickets for the state-run lottery were printed.