Royal Mint was historically part of a series of mints that became centralised to produce coins for the Kingdom of England, all of Great Britain and eventually most of the British Empire. The original London mint from which the Royal Mint is the successor, was established in 886 AD and operated within the Tower of London for approximately 800 years before moving to what is now called Royal Mint Court where it remained until the 1960s. As Britain followed the rest of the world in decimalising its currency, the Mint moved from London to a new plant in Llantrisant, Wales where it
Royal Mint Exchequer George Osborne announced a £20 billion privatisation drive to raise funds with the "Royal Mint" being up for sale alongside other institutions including the Met Office and Companies House. With its new found financial freedom the Mint begun diversifying their product range through expanding to offer items outside their usual coin-related merchandise. By the early 2000s the Mint was selling different types of jewellery, commemorative plates and figurines, eventually creating its own "Royal Mint Classics" range of collectable goods. This part of the business proved popular in attracting new customers however suffered from poor product development. Example of its