This piedfort was issued as part of the Royal Mint's Great Engravers series, specifically commemorating the Tower of London — a fortress that functioned as a royal mint itself for roughly five centuries, from Edward I's recoinage of 1279 until operations transferred to a purpose-built facility on Tower Hill in 1812. The Tower Mint was notoriously difficult to manage: workers were paid partly in clippings, theft was endemic, and the cramped medieval buildings made systematic quality control nearly impossible.
Piedfort format — double the standard planchet thickness — originates in French mint practice, historically used to produce presentation pieces for assay verification.
This piedfort was issued as part of the Royal Mint's Great Engravers series, specifically commemorating the Tower of London — a fortress that functioned as a royal mint itself for roughly five centuries, from Edward I's recoinage of 1279 until operations transferred to a purpose-built facility on Tower Hill in 1812. The Tower Mint was notoriously difficult to manage: workers were paid partly in clippings, theft was endemic, and the cramped medieval buildings made systematic quality control nearly impossible.
Piedfort format — double the standard planchet thickness — originates in French mint practice, historically used to produce presentation pieces for assay verification.