Birmingham Mint presses and six planchet presses for making blanks from strip metal. These were installed at the Bath Street works, and in that year trade tokens were struck for use in Australia. In 1851 coins were struck for Chile using the letter "H" as a mintmark. The same year copper planchets were made for the Royal Mint to make into pennies, halfpennies, farthings, half-farthings and quarter-farthings. In 1852 the Mint won a contract to produce a new series of coins for France. In this the Mint pioneered the minting of bronze. Ralph Heaton III (son of Ralph II) took key workers
Derek Blanks children's book, "“Up in the Learning Tree”" published by Lee & Low Books. Blanks entered into lifestyle and fashion Photography by developing a portfolio with works published by "Essence", BET Networks, Sony Music Entertainment, Reach Media Inc. and "Ebony". In 2009, Blanks collaborated with NeNe Leakes by photographing the cast of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" for his Alter Ego portrait series. Blanks photographed several more celebrities for the series including Chaka Khan, Taraji P. Henson, Blair Underwood, Snoop Dogg, Janelle Monáe, Rockmond Dunbar, Hill Harper, Faith Evans, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Brandy, Boris Kodjoe, Terrell Owens, Angela Bassett, Cover Girl, Nicole Ari