The Royal Mint’s Trial Pieces Auction 2024

Our latest trial pieces auction will be taking place between Friday, 19 January and Sunday, 11 February 2024. With more than 200 items available, all of which feature a special Trial Pieces mark, this is our largest trial pieces auction to date. Several platinum Proof, gold Proof, silver Proof and Brilliant Uncirculated pieces are available at auction and each Proof trial piece also features a hallmark. The catalogue will open on 19 January and close with a live auction on 11 February 2024.

Trial pieces are created during the production process and are extremely rare in relation to the number of production pieces which are manufactured. The use of trial pieces allows us to experiment with different techniques and see how viable a potential new product will be. There are usually between seven and 30 trial pieces produced for a product, depending on the complexity of the design.

A range of items will be available in our trial pieces auction across a variety of themes. Below are the highlights from the gold Proof, silver Proof and Brilliant Uncirculated items listed on the catalogue.

The Coronation Collection

One of the highlights from the range of gold Proof trial pieces available as part of the auction are items from our collection struck to commemorate the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, which took place on 6 May 2023. These include a 50p gold Proof trial piece that features a design of Westminster Abbey, as designed by Natasha Jenkins, a product designer at The Royal Mint.

Other trial pieces available from our Coronation Collection include designs by John Bergdahl and items from The Sovereign family featuring Benedetto Pistrucci’s classic St George and the dragon design.

The coins in our Coronation Collection featured a special crowned coinage portrait of His Majesty The King, designed by Martin Jennings.

The King’s 75th Birthday

The year 2023 marked several notable milestones for His Majesty, including his 75th birthday on 14 November. We celebrated the occasion with a £5 coin featuring a reverse design by Dan Thorne, a product designer at The Royal Mint. This design took inspiration from the monarch’s passion for nature, featuring a floral reverse design, including his favourite flower, the delphinium.

A silver Proof trial piece and a silver Proof Piedfort trial piece are some of the highlights from the silver trial pieces available at our auction.

Celebrating the Life and Work of JRR Tolkien

A highlight from the Brilliant Uncirculated trial pieces available for bidding through our auction includes a piece struck to commemorate the life and work of JRR Tolkien, the esteemed scholar, writer and poet. Earning global fame as the writer of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien was also a skilled poet and a widely respected philologist.

A design by experienced coinage artist David Lawrence, which places Tolkien’s distinctive monogram at the centre, appears on the reverse of these pieces.

Don’t miss out on our latest trial pieces auction. There are several gold Proof, silver Proof and Brilliant Uncirculated trial pieces available for collectors to bid on across a variety of themes. View the catalogue to find your next rarity and place your bid before the live auction on Sunday, 11 February 2024 to avoid disappointment.

View the Catalogue