Gold Bar (Bank of England Museum exhibit that visitors can lift)

A gold bar on display at the Bank of England Museum. It is housed in an acrylic case as an interactive exhibit that visitors can touch and lift. Photographed in 2023. In 1848, gold was discovered in California, and the following year the London house established an agency in San Francisco. A page from the archives chronicling the history of the refinery writes that the discovery of gold during this period was an opportunity to get on the side of gold production. While the prospectors went west, the house went towards refining. In 1852, the Royal Mint Refinery became the business of the London house. The archives note that the standard bars that went to market were cast with a purity of over 995 parts per thousand.