Chinese coins

 

I had always wanted to see beyond this door. Londoners may recognise it as the door to the old Royal Mint. It's situated to the right of Tower Bridge. Until 1810 the Mint was housed in the Tower of London and from there moved to this building on Tower Hill. In the 1960s it was moved to a purpose built building in Wales.

Since it was the Royal mint the building has been used for offices and residential apartments. Once inside there was only the one room where the coins were being displayed that was open. nevertheless it was still interesting to see the front of it. I doubt I will get an opportunity again as this is going to be the new Chinese Embassy. It will be their biggest embassy in Europe. How did the Chinese manage to buy this land you might ask. Well no doubt there has been or will be a public enquiry at some point because as sure as eggs are eggs this should never have happened and there has definitely been some shady dealings going on somewhere along the line.

These are a few pictures of the coins that were on display. These coins represented Chinese inventions such as paper making, printing and fireworks.

These coins represented the Chinese Zodiac.

    

Chinese cities.

The coins were not made for circulation but display. I enjoyed looking round but to obtain a ticket I had to complete a form giving all my personal details. I wonder if I should be worried!