The Trial of the Pyx ( / p ɪ k s / ) is a judicial ceremony in the United Kingdom to ensure that newly minted coins from the Royal Mint conform to their required dimensional and fineness specifications. Although coin quality is now tested throughout the year under laboratory conditions, the event has become an annual historic tradition. Each year, thousands of coins are put on trial, consisting of both those struck for circulation and non-circulating commemorative coins.
25-705: First held in the 12th century, the event takes place in the hall of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in London, where the Deputy Master of the Mint (CE of the Royal Mint ) is in effect put on trial before a High Court judge as metallurgical assayers and selected leaders from the financial world sample coins from the mint's output. The boxes in which coins are stored form the ceremony's namesake :
50-701: A corresponding trial plate which acts as a benchmark. After three months of testing, a ceremony presided over by the King's Remembrancer is held, when the final verdict is given. Attending the event and receiving the verdict under the capacity as Master of the Mint is the Chancellor of the Exchequer or his Deputy Master, the Chief Executive of the Royal Mint. If the coinage is found to be substandard,
75-533: A law requiring any item made of silver, which was offered for sale to be at least of equal quality as that of the coin of the realm (silver currency). The four wardens of the Goldsmiths’ Company were tasked with visiting workshops in the City of London to assay (test) silver articles. If these articles were found to be below standard they were originally forfeit to the king, but if they passed, each article received
100-476: A science initiative in primary schools created by Imperial College London and the National Theatre ’s programme of streamed recordings for primary schools. 51°30′57″N 0°05′45″W / 51.5158°N 0.0957°W / 51.5158; -0.0957 The Goldsmiths%27 Company Assay Office The Goldsmiths' Company Assay Office in London (also known as Assay Office London or
125-399: Is more suitable to the requirements of the jeweller or silversmith. The hallmark indicates the amount of precious metal in the alloy in parts per thousand (the millesimal fineness). In addition to indicating the town where the item was marked, a unique sponsor's or maker's mark identifies the item's origin and a date letter to represent the year of marking. The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office
150-613: Is not required for a new Order to be issued for each Trial: this is required only to implement regulatory revision. Prior to the Coinage Act 1870 trials took place at the Palace of Westminster and coins were stored in Westminster Abbey 's Pyx Chapel. The Act moved the venue for the trial to Goldsmiths' Hall , the headquarters of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths who carry out the testing. Every year around February,
175-522: Is still based at Goldsmiths’ Hall and remains the oldest company in Britain to be continually trading from the same site. However, it also has two satellite offices; at Greville Street in Hatton Garden in the heart of the London jewellery quarter and within a high-security complex at London's Heathrow airport, where it handles parcels imported from foreign manufacturers. In addition to hallmarking,
200-518: Is the origin of the term hallmark – struck with the king's mark at Goldsmiths’ Hall. In 1544 the Goldsmith's Company adopted the king's mark as their town mark and the mark of the leopard's head is now internationally recognised as the mark of this assay office. Precious metals are rarely used in their pure form, as they are too soft. Gold, silver, platinum and palladium are generally mixed (alloyed) with copper or other metals to create an alloy that
225-629: The City of London , headquartered at Goldsmiths' Hall , London EC2 . The company , which originates from twelfth-century London, received a Royal Charter in 1327 and ranks fifth in precedence of the City Livery Companies. Its motto is Justitia Virtutum Regina , Latin for Justice is Queen of Virtues . Established as a medieval guild for the goldsmith trade , the term hallmarking derives from precious metals being officially inspected and marked at Goldsmiths' Hall in
250-599: The City of London . In 1812, twenty almshouses were built on the former Perryn estate in Acton , on land bequeathed to the company by John Perryn in 1657. In 1891, the Goldsmiths' Company founded the Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute , becoming Goldsmiths' College then Goldsmiths, University of London . One of the few Livery Companies today playing a formal role in its ancient trade, it oversees
275-506: The King's Bench . It is his or her responsibility to ensure that the trial be held in accordance with the law and to deliver the jury's final verdict to His Majesty's Treasury . Where and when a trial is to take place is at the Treasury's discretion, though there must be a trial in any year during which the Royal Mint issues coins. Coins to be tested are drawn from the regular production of
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#1732772062007300-550: The London Assay Office ) is the oldest assay office in the United Kingdom. The company has provided hallmarking services since The Goldsmiths Company was founded in the 14th century. The company received its royal charter in 1327 and ranks fifth in order of precedence of the 12 great livery companies of the City of London . Hallmarking dates back to the 14th century when Edward I of England passed
325-569: The Red Book of the Exchequer , a section thought to be written in May 1279 titled "forma nova monete" ("A new form of currency") set forth procedures for a regular series of trials whereby the Master of the Mint became liable for failings in the currency standards. Coins were to be put into a box with two keys, each held by the master and warden and its contents tested four times a year. In 1282, in
350-523: The Company of Goldsmiths. They have two months to test the provided coins, and decide whether they have been properly minted. Criteria are given for diameter , chemical composition and weight for each class of coinage. Depending on the number of coins being assayed there are a varying number of jurors needed. Sitting along a table, the jurors are handed packets of up to 50 coins, by a Royal Mint official, which they must count. Each juror selects one coin from
375-555: The Goldsmiths' Company Assay Office , where objects made of precious metals are tested for purity, and then marked with an official symbol should they pass the necessary tests . At the Trial of the Pyx , the Goldsmiths' Company is also responsible for checking the validity of British coinage . The Goldsmiths' Company also maintains a library and archive for those wishing to research goldsmithing, silversmithing and hallmarking . In 2012
400-697: The Goldsmiths’ Centre, a space for workshops, exhibitions and events, and education including apprentice training, opened in Clerkenwell . In July 2017, the Goldsmiths' Company announced it was to become a founding partner of the new Museum of London , donating £10 million to the new site. It also announced a contribution of £250,000 to Westminster Abbey for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries , which opened in 2018. The Goldsmiths’ Company supports two large educational initiatives, providing funding for
425-477: The Royal Mint. The Deputy Master of the Mint must, throughout the year, randomly select several thousand sample coins and place them aside for the Trial. These must be in a certain fixed proportion to the number of coins produced. For example, for every 5,000 bimetallic coins issued, one must be set aside, whereas for silver Maundy money the proportion is one in 150. The jury is composed of at least six assayers from
450-552: The coinage of multiple years. Trials were held in every calendar year of the reign of Elizabeth II , starting in 1952. Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths (commonly known as The Goldsmiths' Company and formally styled The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Goldsmiths of the City of London ), is one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of
475-640: The event begins with a meeting held in Goldsmiths' Hall . Attending the gathering are the Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths' Company , three of their supporting Wardens, the Head of the Assay Office, Liverymen , The Deputy Master of the Mint and the King's Remembrancer . The presiding judge is the King's Remembrancer (or Queen's Remembrancer when the sitting monarch is female), the Senior Master of
500-402: The king's mark of authentication which was the mark of a leopard's head. By 1478, there were several hundred workshops and merchants manufacturing silver articles in the City of London. It was not possible for the wardens to visit them all so the merchants were ordered to bring their items to Goldsmiths’ Hall for testing and marking and a permanent assay office was established in the building. This
525-423: The office has now expanded its range of services to support the jewellery trade and enforcement authorities. It offers a variety of specialist analytical services including nickel testing, antique silver dating, non-destructive compositional analysis, plating thickness measurement and a melt and assay service for scrap precious metal carried out in their fully independent on-site laboratory. Other services offered are
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#1732772062007550-400: The pile, places it in a copper bowl and it is then sent to be assayed. The remaining coins are either sent to be weighed or weighed at the table. Smaller denomination coins that are more numerous are counted by machine. At the company's assay office , the coins which were placed in the copper bowls are melted down and formed into plates where their fineness and weight can be compared against
575-526: The reign of Edward I , a writ was issued ordering barons to carry out pyx trials throughout the realm. The current statutory basis for the Trial of the Pyx is the Coinage Act 1971 , the latest in a long series of similarly named Acts of Parliament . Specific procedures are established by Order in Council , the most recent being the Trial of the Pyx Order 1998, which was amended in 2005, 2012 and 2016. It
600-458: The trial carries a punishment for the Master of the Mint of a fine, removal from office, or imprisonment. The last master of the mint to be punished was Isaac Newton in 1696, though he later showed that the mistake originated in a faulty reference. Prior to the Coinage Act 1971 which ordered a trial to be held at least once a year, trials were carried out in no particular order and often covered
625-635: The word pyx derives from the Greek πυξίς , pyxis meaning 'wooden box'. According to records from the Dialogus de Scaccario , in 1179 the weight and fineness of coinage received by England's Exchequer was examined for regulatory purposes under the supervision of the Baron of the Exchequer . At this time the Master of the Mint was ordered to put aside one coin for every ten pounds of silver minted so that they might be tested every three months. Found in
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