The Trial of the Pyx () is a judicial ceremony in the United Kingdom to ensure that newly minted coins from the Royal Mint conform to their required dimensional and fineness specifications. Although coin quality is now tested throughout the year under laboratory conditions, the event has become an annual historic tradition. Each year, thousands of coins are put on trial, consisting of both those struck for circulation and non-circulating commemorative coins. First held in the 12th century, the event takes place in the hall of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in London, where the Deputy Master of the Mint (CEO of the Royal Mint) is in effect put on trial before a High Court judge as metallurgical assayers and selected leaders from the financial world sample coins from the mint's output. The boxes in which coins are stored form the ceremony's namesake: the word pyx derives from the Greek, πυξίς, (pyxis) meaning wooden box. History According to records from the Dialogus de Scaccario, in 1179 the weight and fineness of coinage received by England's Exchequer was examined for regulatory purposes under the supervision of the Baron of the Exchequer. At this time the Master of the Mint was ordered to put aside one coin for every ten pounds of silver minted so that they might be tested every three months. Found in the Red Book of the Exchequer, a section thought to be written in May 1279 titled "forma nova monete" ("A new form of currency") set forth procedures for a regular series of trials whereby the Master of the Mint became liable for failings in the currency standards. Coins were to be put into a box with two keys, each held by the master and warden and its contents tested four times a year. In 1282, in the reign of Edward I, a writ was issued ordering barons to carry out pyx trials throughout the realm. The current statutory basis for the Trial of the Pyx is the Coinage Act 1971, the latest in a long series of similarly named Acts of Parliament. Specific procedures are established by Order in Council, the most recent being the Trial of the Pyx Order 1998, which was amended in 2005, 2012 and 2016. It is not required for a new Order to be issued for each Trial: this is required only to implement regulatory revision. Prior to the Coinage Act 1870