Anne JESSOPP, a woman head of the Royal Mint
- February 19, 2019
- by
- Pierre
Numismag met Anne JESSOPP at the Berlin World Money Fair 2019. The CEO of the Royal Mint, newly appointed to head the 1100-year-old institution, is the first woman to hold this position since the institution’s inception.
Anne JESSOPP, new CEO of Royal Mint
The Royal Mint has already planned two important events during 2019, including the launch of a coin dedicated to the D DAY, whose 75th anniversary will be celebrated in 2019.
A series of coins dedicated to the Tower of London is also planned in 2019.
Anne JESSOPP pointed out that the Royal Mint is concerned to protect the interests of Royal Mint’s customer purchases by ensuring that the coins they buy are valued over time. This requires the rarity of numismatic issues as well as their quality. It also consists, in particular for precious metal coins, in maintaining the existing numismatic standards both in terms of precious metal content and in terms of the weight and diameter of coin blanks, on which the coin is struck.
The CEO of the Royal Mint also says she is very attached to the notion of renewing generations of collectors. There are nearly 1.7 million collectors in the United Kingdom who buy a coin at least once a year. The Royal Mint has developed activities to encourage younger children to take an interest in numismatics: school visits, contests, tokens struck by the collector in the Mint workshop, etc….
NUMISMAG took the opportunity to ask the CEO of the Royal Mint about the possible effects of BREXIT on the Royal Mint. As far as the Mint is concerned and, especially in the case of a Brexit without an agreement with the EU, Anne JESSOPP remains confident. The official announcement of Brexit in 2016 had no other effect than a sharp increase in Royal Mint’s turnover for sales of Bullion coins. It is likely that once effective, Brexit has no particular effect on the Royal Mint, except for a new “Bullion rush”.
Royal Mint is experiencing significant growth in sales of gold investment coins. In 2018, its investment activities increased by approximately 25% and, over the past 12 months, it has seen a 30% increase in the number of new clients visiting the website dedicated to the bullions issued by the Royal Mint.
The typical buyer of gold bullion coins tends to be male, active and over 55 years of age, with a significant level of disposable income. However, more recently, the Royal Mint has seen increased interest from young investors, as well as women, in this type of product. “We are working hard to ensure that our products and proposals are adapted to these new customers. We are very excited about the changing gold landscape and are determined to ensure that anyone interested in investing in gold and other precious metals can access it”, said Chris HOWARD, Bullion sales director at the Royal Mint.
Sources: Royal Mint and NUMISMAG.
