Here’s a wonderful short film showing how we transformed a fallen London tree into elegant wooden chests – used to store and transport the nation’s coinage at a ceremony that stretches back eight centuries.
The story begins with a London plane tree felled in the capital – a tree that would otherwise have been destroyed – and shows us milling and seasoning the wood before crafting it into a series of ‘Pyx’ boxes – used by the London Assay Office to store and transport The Royal Mint's coins at the ‘Trial of the Pyx’.
It’s one of Britain’s oldest traditions – since 1248, the The Goldsmiths' Company' has been responsible for upholding the quality of the nation's coinage through rigorous inspection and testing. The name Pyx comes from the Latin for small box.
The London Assay Office was looking for a locally made, sustainable way to sort, store and transport the more than 6,000 coins submitted for test by The Royal Mint every year.
“Working with Fallen & Felled, we’ve been able to share in their passion for sustainability and to witness how their skilled craftspeople have turned wood that was destined for landfill into handsome Pyx boxes, that will be used by the London Assay Office for generations to come,” said Will Evans, Director of The London Assay Office.
Film
crafting Elegant wooden chests for London Mint coins
Watch the film about a London tree being used to make history.
