Some coins in British Museums

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by calcol, Oct 19, 2025 at 8:31 PM.

  1. calcol

    calcol Supporter! Supporter

    Although my wife and I have visited a lot of British museums, below are pics from a few. The coins and apparatuses are some of the more interesting to me and ones with decent pics. Mike

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    The Tower Mint in London was established in 1279 by Edward I. This was the first centralized mint in England. Before that, there were regional mints scattered around the country. Most of the regional mints closed when the Tower Mint started operation. When the English civil war began in 1642, mintage again was distributed in regional mints (more on this later). After the war’s end in 1650, coinage again was centralized in the Tower. By 1800 space in the Tower was insufficient, so a new mint was constructed on nearby Tower Hill and began operation in 1810. This space eventually was too small, and the present mint in Llantrisant was constructed. The pic and description below are from the Mint Museum in the Tower.

    mint_Tower_of_London_London_1_low_res.jpg
    mint_Tower_of_London_London_2_low_res.jpg

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    Up next are some medieval dies and test strikes in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The forger dies (#3 in the pic) are impressive. It took a big hammer and careful aim to use them. If forgers were caught in that era, they met a very unpleasant end.

    Fitzwilliam_Museum_Cambridge_1_low_res.jpg
    Fitzwilliam_Museum_Cambridge_2_low_res.jpg
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    Next, from the Lincoln Museum, is a pot hoard containing coins of the Roman emperor Honorius (ruled 384 – 423). Honorius was the emperor who finally gave up on Britain and ordered his troops and officials to leave. Over the next few hundred years, waves of Jutes, Angles, Saxons and Vikings invaded and settled, leading to constant infighting. Most of the finds of ancient coins in Britain are in pots found by metal detectorists.

    Lincoln_Museum_Lincoln_1_low_res.jpg

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    Last, also from the Lincoln Museum, are Newark siege coins from the civil war (1642-1649) which pitted Charles I against Parliament. Newark was one of several strongholds of Royalists and was besieged by the Parliamentarians. These coins have a distinctive diamond shape. The planchets were made from silver plate contributed by Royalist nobles. The plate was hammered to the required thickness and then diagonally cut to produce strips. Strips were then bias-cut to produce planchets for coining. On some of the coins, hallmarks of the original plate can be seen. Although attacked more than once, Newark was never conquered. But when Charles surrendered elsewhere, Newark opened its gates.

    Lincoln_Museum_Lincoln_2_low_res.jpg
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