Royal Mint of the public in the form of bars or coins. Historically the mint has refined its own metal, however under the advice of an 1848 Royal Commission the process was separated with the independent "Royal Mint Refinery" being purchased and operated by Anthony de Rothschild in 1852. The Rothschild family continued the refinery's management until it was sold to Engelhard in 1967, a year later the Royal Mint relocated to Wales and ceased their bullion bar interests until reviving the brand in 2015. Bullion bars produced by the mint are stamped with the original Royal Mint Refinery emblem and come
Royal Mint was worth just 13.5d compared to an English mark which was worth 6s 8d. To bridge the difference between the values, unofficial supplementary token coins, often made from lead were made by unauthorised minters across the country. By 1612 there were 3,000 such unlicensed mints producing these tokens, none of whom paying anything towards the crown. "The Royal Mint", not wanting to divert manpower away from minting more profitable gold and silver, hired outside agent Lord Harington who under licence started issuing copper farthings in 1613. Private licenses to mint these coins were revoked in 1644 which led traders to