Every single year, without exception, since The Year of Our Lord, 1282 – a legal trial has taken place to check the quality of the coinage of the realm.

Today – the second Tuesday in February – for the 728th time, that trial will take place in the City of London, and once again, the coins produced by the Royal Mint will be subjected to an array of testing to check that they are of good quality.

Last year, I had the privilege of being amongst a smallish group of observers invited in to watch the trial take place.

You can read about my morning at the Trial here

Fortunately, last year the trial passed without a hitch, and in May the final verdict was declared so that we can rest assured that the coins in our pockets and purses were indeed made to the high standard demanded of the Mint by law.

If you are interested, the formal verdict for 2009′s trial is available of the HM Treasury website as a pdf file.