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I spent a very enjoyable two and a half hours at the Royal Mint Experience today, at Llantrisant. The tour was excellent, pitched at a good level so that everyone could understand the basics of how the coins are produced, and although you don't see the furnace or where the metal is rolled out into coils, you do get to see the factory floor where the coins are being struck. I paid the extra fee to strike the new 12-sided £1 coin (well 'strike' is an overstatement, you press the button). The staff member puts the bimetallic blank into the collar, and then the dies strike the coin twice. This makes it a BU coin as opposed to a circulating coin. For circulating coins, the dies strike the coin only once. The volume and scale of production is impressive. I've visited several factories (I used to work for a couple of food companies) and seeing production and distribution facilities is always a real eye-opener. The real area of interest for people like us is the set of exhibition rooms. These contain all sorts of interesting artefacts from the design and production processes, as well as plenty of coins. Some of which are fantastically rare and beautiful, but some of which would be best described by Pete as rang tang! As someone with a fairly modest collection compared to some, this made me smile! Anyway, here are some photos which I hope you'll enjoy. They aren't the best quality - taken with my phone and of course the coins are behind glass or plastic. I would thoroughly recommend visiting and would gladly go again! One of several items relating to Isaac Newton: Trial plates - from 1477, and 1707: Cromwell die, Charles II punch: Five Guineas of Charles II (Elephant) and Anne (Vigo): Sovereigns: James I Unite: Pistrucci's engravings of George III's head on Jasper discs. I recognise the second one as being the sixpence or shilling, and the third one as being the 'bull head' halfcrown, but what's the first one? London 2012 Olympic medals: Can't remember exactly what this is - Henry VII or VIII I think? Henry VIII Testoon: Edward VI Sovereign(?): Penny of some description: Now this shell is impressive: Beauty and the rang tang Cartwheel Penny: A family of Nobles: George V £1 banknote: 1935 Silver Jubilee Gold Crown - never knew these existed: Elizabeth I Pound: 1746 proof set: I think this is an 1853 proof set (the label said 1893 but it certainly isn't): A one kilo gold coin from 2015: And now the very rare/interesting stuff. Here's an Edward VIII sovereign: Una and the Lion £5, and the corresponding die: And finally: Do I detect a spot of verdigris on the border teeth at about 10 o'clock? ____ What a treat, a cracking place to visit. I bought a £20 Welsh dragon fine silver coin as well as a memento. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

You're welcome. Here's the new £1 coin that I 'struck': And here's the Welsh Dragon £20:

It's funny because the (confirmed) email address this person has used can be found here; http://www.reliableoildealsconsultancy.com/hallofscam.html which is a 'Hall of Scam'. If you're interested, search for 'Scam Lot #2' and it's person number 1 called 'Nicole' (matches Nicky123)

You can ALWAYS trust a Yorkshireman

Probably there just to show the size/thickness as opposed to the design or denomination.

I agree on the 1933 penny, definitely not in mint condition but possibly all the more charming for it. Yes, I did get to keep the pound coin. If you want to strike the coin it costs a fiver, but you receive the coin in a small card folder which says "I struck this coin". I'll post a picture up later.

That means you've received one every 4 days on average. I've never seen a single specimen. Remarkable !!!

I'm off to the UK in August and will try to get there as I will also be going to Wales. Recently I visited the RAM in Canberra again an interesting and informative visit. In your post you mention that you could not see the manufacture of the strips of metal the blanks are pressed from. This was the same at the RAM however the manufacture of the blank coins has been moved offshore to Taiwan perhaps this is the same in the UK.

if he gives me half his cut, i'll go over and give him a hand..

Here is a pic of the F79 I bought from Guy (The Coinery), now jailbroken from the slab. Grade on the CGS slab was EF70, about MS60-61 on the Sheldon scale. Very pleased.

Thanks, I saw it on eBay for £12 last year and took a punt as, whilst the picture was small, it looked different and was described as prooflike. I can't decide if it is a proof, the fields do have a mirror like finish, but it was a nice find. I had been meaning to post it for a while. Here is the eBay picture.

I laugh at the cheap and ridiculous scams some people try to pull nowadays. If you Google "Nicky123 Coins", you will find that another and perhaps unrelated Nicky123 has posted " I have to unfortunately sell my collection of UNDATED 20p COINS Mint Condition: More than 500 pieces Very Good Condition: 150 pieces ... " in another forum. The said person has since claimed that she has received a "good offer". Someone then posted "And now they're miraculously sold, without any proof. Congratulations; you win 'Least Convincing Scam, February 2017". http://thesilverforum.com/topic/8037-undated-20p-received-a-good-offer/#comment-104302 Oh, I found two 1933 pennies when sorting out old coins ... I wonder if they are valuable .... anyone interested?

This post suggests that they were collected in change. But no one can believe that it is possible to find 700 that way... Rob's post really says it all.