February 25, 2011 – Today, the Royal Mint has informed us that some statements in the here quoted article of the Guardian are misleading. The Royal Mint stresses that the contract with Egypt is not and has never been endangered.
Furthermore the Royal Mint wants to point out that the number of 4 billion coins refers to the complete annual production of the Royal Mint, home and foreign.
Here the original article:
February 24, 2011 – The British Royal Mint used to produce more than 4 billion coins a year on behalf of Mubarak’s Egypt. This nation was renewing its cash supply and had an important part of it struck at the Welsh Llantrisant, where the Royal Mint is located. This means that Egypt is the second largest customer of the Royal Mint. Only Russia buys more coins in Great Britain. The Egyptian orders safeguard some British jobs.
Banknotes produced in Great Britain. They featured the portrait of the Iranian shah, which had to be overprinted after the revolution in Iran. Ashmolean Museum / Money Gallery. Photo: Ursula Kampmann.
Fortunately, all newly struck coins do not show the portrait of Mubarak. Therefore, the Royal Mint is in a much better position than the British printer, who planned to deliver the printed banknotes to the Shah of Persia. Revolution made the order obsolete. The banknotes had to be overprinted, before they could be delivered…
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