(11 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
London – 11 February 2025
1. Juror inspecting a coin during the Trial of the Pyx, a ceremony that dates to the 12th Century in which coins are weighed in order to make certain they are up to standard
2. Close of coin being held
3. Wide of the Trial of the Pyx in progress
4. Juror inspecting a coin
5. Close of a silver coin commemorating Paul McCartney
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Eleni Bide, Head of Library and Archives for The Goldsmiths’ Company:
"It’s a way of making sure that if you’re in the UK, the coins that are in your pocket are real and reliable, that you know what they’re made of, that they are up to the right standards."
7. Juror looking at coins
8. Coins being handled
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Eleni Bide, Head of Library and Archives for The Goldsmiths’ Company: +PARTLY OVER SHOTS 10 AND 11++
"But also, perhaps most importantly, they’re very difficult to counterfeit. Because the more standardized, the more uniform you can make the coins, that provides a challenge for people who want to fake them."
10. Juror holding a large coin
11. Close of coin
12. Mid of coins being taken out from a bag
13. Close of gold coins
STORYLINE:
A jury sat solemnly in a gilded hall in central London on Tuesday, presided over by a bewigged representative of the crown in flowing black robes, but there were no criminals in the dock.
Britain’s coinage was on trial.
In a ceremony that dates back to the 12th century, the jury filed into the Livery Hall of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths to begin the process of weighing and measuring hundreds of coins to ensure they meet stringent standards set by regulators.
The tradition — known as the Trial of the Pyx — amounts to a very old type of consumer protection designed to safeguard the nation’s coinage from counterfeiting or other forms of debasement.
"It’s a way of making sure that if you’re in the UK, the coins that are in your pocket are real and reliable, that you know what they’re made of, that they are up to the right standards," said Eleni Bide, the librarian for the Goldsmiths’ Company.
Bide said making standardized, perfect coins is a really important part of preventing forgery.
Like the many old ceremonies that the UK continues to observe, the annual assessment of coinage is replete with traditions that link modern Britain to its historic roots.
That starts with its name, which comes from the ancient Greek word “pyxis,” or small box, which was later used in Latin, too.
Coins are collected throughout the year and deposited in so-called Pyx boxes, from which jurors randomly select the coins to be tested.
The coins selected on Tuesday will be weighed, measured, examined for their design and tested for metallic composition over the next three months before the jury reconvenes to give its verdict on whether they meet regulatory standards.
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