More than 95,000 coins from the Royal Mint will go on trial in a quality assurance test that dates back almost 750 years.

The coins, which were produced over the last year, will be tested on Tuesday at the ancient Trial of the Pyx at Goldsmiths' Hall in London to assess their weight and quality.

Among them will be the 100mm Kilo which was produced to celebrate The Queen becoming the longest reigning monarch.

It features all five definitive coinage portraits of The Queen to create a timeline effect, telling the story of a monarch maturing on the face of the coins of the United Kingdom.

At the trial, first recorded in 1282, the monarch will be represented by the Queen's Remembrancer, who presides over matters to do with the Exchequer. An independent jury of City of London Liverymen from Goldsmiths' Company also attends the test.

At the trial jury members are presented with Pyx boxes, named after the Roman word for chest.

A random selection of coins are then picked and weighed in wooden bowls. The test is then adjourned until May to allow time for trial coins to be tested by Goldsmiths' Assay Laboratory and the National Measurement Office.

In the past the penalty for coins failing the test has been severe. The master of the Mint - a role held by the Chancellor today - went to prison for six weeks in 1318 after poor tests.

Even Sir Isaac Newton, one of the world's greatest scientific thinkers, was at loggerheads with the jury during his time as master of the Mint when the integrity of his coin samples were questioned.