Testing times

Before the Mint could produce Elizabeth I's new coins, metal workers needed to calculate the amount of silver or gold in Henry VIII’s coins. In a process called assaying, a sample was weighed and melted in a furnace, and the precious and non-precious metals separated out by a series of chemical reactions.

Assaying could be hazardous work. In 1560 a group of German metal workers fell ill at the Mint. They eventually died, probably of arsenic poisoning from the melting process.

A royal visit

On 10 July 1561 Elizabeth I visited the Mint at the Tower to check the progress of her new coins. In preparation, the Mint bought in bags of gravel to cover the muddy street so she did not get her dress and shoes dirty. Rumour has it she even struck some gold coins herself.