Cookson Precious Metals are a leading supplier of precious metal blanks

Cookson Precious Metals (CPM) are a leading supplier of precious metal blanks for coins & medals to Mints in Europe and the USA. At CPM we have a customer centric culture that demands we work in partnership with our suppliers and customers, that we share the benefits derived from the processes and principles of 6 Sigma and Lean, and that we strive for continuous improvement. In the UK we have a progressive and successful relationship with the highly regarded Royal Mint, one of the largest Mints in the world supplying beautifully crafted commemorative coins around the globe. In June 2011 the Royal Mint held their inaugural "Supplier Awards". Cookson Precious Metals were the proud recipient of the "Working in Partnership" award ! The Royal Mint produces many different commemorative coin programmes from Cookson Precious Metals coin blanks. The Royal Maundy Money which is an ancient ceremony which has its origin in the commandment Christ gave after washing the feet of his disciples on the day before Good Friday. Today's recipients of Royal Maundy (as many elderly men and women as there are years in the sovereign's age) are chosen because of the Christian service they have given to the Church and community. At the ceremony which takes place annually on Maundy Thursday, the sovereign hands to each recipient two small leather string purses. One, a red purse, contains - in ordinary coinage - money in lieu of food and clothing; the other, a white purse, contains silver 92.5% Maundy coins consisting of the same number of pence as the years of the sovereign's age. Maundy coins still bear the same portrait of Her Majesty the Queen prepared by Mary Gillick for the first coins issued in the year of her coronation in 1953. The Maundy coins issued in 2012 will be extra special as they will be from a queen celebrating her diamond jubilee. On 27 July 2012 the eyes of the world will turn to London for the start of the Olympic Games. To celebrate this historic event the Royal Mint has developed a beautiful range of official London 2012 commemorative coins. In addition the Royal Mint will produce approximately 4,700 victory medals for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Olympic Victory Medals have been designed by British artist David Watkins who is an established artist in the field of decorative art. The front depicts the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, stepping from Parthenon. The reverse features the 2012 emblem as "architectural expression, a metaphor for the modern city" on a dished background evocative of an amphitheatre. A grid represents both "pulling together" and athletes radiating energy, while the River Thames symbolises London. The medals are 85mm in diameter and 7mm thick and they weigh in at 375-400g. The sport and discipline of the medal winners will be engraved on the rim. The paralympic medals have been designed by Lin Cheung, a practising Jewellery artist and senior lecturer in Jewellery Design at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, London. The medals represent forward flight, power and lightness and were inspired by "the endurance, focus and achievement of elite Paralympic athletes". The design was taken from a cast on a sculpture of the goddess Nike of Painios at the British Museum.

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