Pobjoy Mint
British Pobjoy Mint is a privately held company-sector mint located in Surrey, England, which produces commemorative coins, medal, tokens and bullion.[2] The mint also manufacturers circulating currency for some British Overseas Territories and sovereign countries including Sierra Leone and Vanuatu.
Type | Private limited company |
---|---|
Industry | Precious metals production |
Founded | 1965[1] |
Founder | Derek Pobjoy |
Headquarters | Tadworth, Surrey, United Kingdom |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | Non-circulating legal tender commemorative coins, circulating coinage, medals and medallions, tokens |
Website | Pobjoy Mint |
History
The mint was founded in 1965 by Derek Pobjoy who purchased a coin press after leaving his father Ernest Pobjoy's jewellery and masonry business to set up a mint.[2] Upon the death of Winston Churchill in the same year the small mint produced a series of gold medals to commemorate coins.
Since 1974, the mint has become involved in the production and international sale of new-issue postage stamps and currently exclusively coordinates the coin and stamp programmes of seven countries (Ascension Island, Bahamas, British Antarctic Territory, British Virgin Islands, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and Tristan da Cunha).[2]
As manufacturers of gold chains, gilt and enamel badges and escutcheons, regalia and insignia of all kinds, the Pobjoy Mint has been contractor to the British Crown Agents and various London jewellers, for whom it has executed commissions involving precious metals and gemstones of all kinds.[2]
On the 12th October 2023, the current Director Taya Pobjoy announced during a podcast with Coin World, a numismatic publication in the US both her retirement and the closure of the Mint in its entirety. The mint's website would remain open for orders but would also close in November 2023 with no further coins dated '2024'.
Numismatic developments
In the 1970s, the company developed a new metal alloy similar to German silver known as Virenium which consisted of 81% copper, 10% zinc and 9% nickel.[3] This alloy has been used in non-circulating commemoratives since 1978.
In 1983, the company also created the Manx noble, a bullion coin containing one troy ounce of platinum. It was the first investment coin to be made from 0.9995 fine platinum. Its production ran for six years from 1983 to 1989. The noble has legal tender status although, like the South African gold Krugerrand, its value is defined only by its precious metal content as it has no numismatic value.
The mint also produced the Isle of Man's angel gold coin, from 1984 to 2016. In 1999, Pobjoy Mint issued the world's first titanium coin, the 1999 Gibraltar Millennium £5 coin.[2]
Countries and governments
The Pobjoy Mint has struck non-circulating (commemorative), circulating and pattern coins for nearly 20% of the world's governments and central banks as well as undertaking sub-contracted work for certain national mints. Many medallion issues have also been produced, notably for Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Arab States. The mint has produced eighty different medallions for the World Wide Fund for Nature collection.
The mint has struck coins for the following territories[2][4]
- Ascension Island
- Bolivia
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- British Antarctic Territory
- British Indian Ocean Territory
- British Virgin Islands
- Burundi
- Cook Islands
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Falkland Islands
- Fiji
- Gambia
- Gibraltar
- Guinea
- Hong Kong
- Isle of Man – Ended in 2017[5]
- Kyrgyzstan
- Liberia
- Macau
- Malaysia
- Nigeria
- Niue
- Peru
- Philippines
- Pitcairn Islands
- Saint Helena
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Solomon Islands
- Somaliland
- South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
- Spain
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Tokelau
- Tonga
- Tristan da Cunha
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Western Samoa
References
- "Company Description". First Directory Ltd. June 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
- "Pobjoy Mint About us". Pobjoy Mint. Archived from the original on 21 February 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
- Diracdelta (2010). "Science and engineering encyclopedia v2.4:Virenium". Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
- "Pobjoy Mint". Coin Week. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
- "Pobjoy Mint and Isle of Man Partnership Ending". Coinnews.net. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2017.