- Americans are crazy about UK coins and The Royal Mint plans to cash in on them
- A new distribution deal could see £100m of coins sent to the United States.
- The Mint is downsizing its foreign coin manufacturing division and looking to fill the gap
The Royal Mint has signed a deal it hopes will help sell £100m of UK-made coins to the US, amid plans to stop making currency on behalf of other countries, this is what Money can reveal.
The Mint is the UK’s oldest company and currently manufactures coins for the UK and 28 other countries at its headquarters in Llantrisant, Wales.
The Mint will stop making coins for other countries from December 2024, but will continue to make UK currency and commemorative coins.
And to fill the gap of stopping currency manufacturing overseas, it has revealed plans to sell more UK-made coins to the US as investments and collectibles.
Golden handshake: Wayde Milas of Rare Coin Company of America and Rebecca Morgan of The Royal Mint hope to increase the number of UK-made coins purchased in the United States
The Royal Mint has signed a deal with import and distribution company Rare Coin Company of America that hopes to generate £100 million over the next three years.
Americans are already interested in coins made in the United Kingdom and the Mint said it has seen a 118 percent increase in sales to the United States since 2022.
In particular, U.S. customers purchased more than 17,000 1-ounce silver commemorative coins from the Mint over the past two years, with royalty coins and designs depicting Star Wars and Harry Potter being particularly popular.
The Rare Coin Company of America will have exclusive rights to sell coins manufactured by the Royal Mint, but not bullion, precious metals in the form of bars or ingots.
Rebecca Morgan, head of commemorative coins at The Royal Mint, said: “All of our coin collections are made in the UK and British craftsmanship continues to have strong international appeal.
“Recent collections celebrating the Coronation, Star Wars and Liberty and Britannia have seen increased demand from American collectors and we expect this to grow in the coming years.”
The Royal Mint is being remodeled in part because of falling demand for coins abroad, except in the United States.
The Mint only made 56 coin issues in 2022/23, compared to 339 in 2021/22 and 437 in 2020/21, according to the latest annual results.
The Royal Mint’s monetary arm loses money and posted losses of £13.1m in 2022/23, down from £4.5m the previous year.
Starting in December, the Mint wants to move the 200 employees currently working with foreign coins and move them into jewelry manufacturing and gold recycling.
The Mint wants to recover gold used in circuit boards, such as those found in cell phones and laptops.
The company is building a plant in Llantrisant that can recover 99 per cent of the gold used in electronics.