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Google has the answer to everything.  Well actually not quite everything, it seems… That’s because when I sat down to write this blog about the Queen and Prince Philip’s Platinum Wedding Anniversary in November this year, I thought it would be interesting to see how many couples actually celebrate 70 years of marriage. The answer is Google doesn’t know. And the more I dug around, the more I realised the reason why.  It’s incredibly rare. So if Google can’t tell us, let’s see if we can come up with an answer. Fundamental to the problem is that there is simply no central record...

English mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, Sir Isaac Newton is one of the most famous scientists of all time. He is renowned for producing the single most influential book on physics ever written, The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, but not many people know that discovering why apples fell from trees and changing the way we understand the universe were not the only problems he dealt with… Newton and the Counterfeiter In 1695, The Royal Mint discovered that a large number of the UK’s circulating coins were fake. In fact, 10% of England’s coinage was known to be phony. Unable to keep up with...

The story behind England’s first colonial coinage is one that few people know about, and it begins with the most influential company in world history – The East India Company… The East India Company today are producers and distributors of quality, exclusive and exotic goods with a 400 year legacy through its trade history, which built the British Empire. Originally, the East India Company was a band of pioneering merchants who were granted a Royal Charter by Elizabeth I in 1600 to explore the East Indies and bring back exotic goods to the Regal West. In doing so they established...

The Red Arrows have just been granted Public Display Authority for the 2017 air display season and we can’t wait to see what they have in store for us this year! In the run up to the season we wanted to find out all things Red Arrows from the team themselves and Flight Lieutenant Emmet Cox, aka. Red 9, was only too happy to give us an exclusive interview. Currently in his third year on the team, Red 9, has told us how to become a Red Arrows pilot and what it’s really like to be part of the world renowned Red Arrows…What qualities/skills does a Red...

For collectors in the UK, the £5 coin is the flagship of the decimal era.  They were first issued in 1990 as a replacement for the commemorative crowns which had a face value of just 25p following decimalisation. The coins are reserved for commemorating significant British anniversaries and are a favourite among collectors as they are not intended for general circulation, making them highly collectible.  In recent years these crown-sized coins have become more and more difficult to find as their popularity has shot up while supply has diminished. Using current Royal Mint figures we have put together a chart showing the 10 rarest UK £5 coins. As you can see,...