29 Jun 2009 10:16
In today’s online edition, BBC News published “Faulty 20p coins ‘worth £50 each'”. A Coin Factfile sidebar to the article notes originally noted that
British coins do not carry the name of the country of issue – neither do those of the USA
Coins of the USA, of course, do carry the name of the country of issue. Instead of sending the BBC feedback (which I did), maybe I should have offered to sell them my collection of “faulty” US coins on which the words United States of America appear. I’d have taken a mere £20 a piece.
At least BBC News attributed their “factfile” facts. They came from the London Mint Office. Despite its august name, the London Mint Office isn’t the Royal Mint. It’s more like a British Franklin Mint, I think. According to their web page, the London Mint Office is
a wholly-owned subsidiary of one of Europe’s most successful direct marketing organisations’, the Samlerhuset Group.
How the London Mint Office qualified for a .org domain beats me. Not to mention how any of this qualifies as news.