Royal Maundy recent years, approximately 1,600–1,900 sets have been minted. Additional sets have been struck for inclusion in special silver proof sets marketed by the Royal Mint in 1996, 2000 and 2006, with a special issue in gold as part of a gold proof set in 2002. Individual Maundy recipients have realised as much as £100 per set of four pieces by selling them on eBay. Royal Maundy Royal Maundy is a religious service in the Church of England held on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday. At the service, the British monarch or a royal official ceremonially distributes small silver
Maundy Thursday kept at the cathedral as a reserve if a parish runs out. The service is a 1967 restoration of the rite recorded in the early 200s by the historian Hippolytus who writes of a ceremony taking place during the Easter Vigil at which two holy oils were blessed and one was consecrated. In the fifth century, the ceremony of the oils was transferred from the Holy Saturday Vigil to Holy Thursday during a special Mass for that purpose, distinct from the Mass of the Lord's Supper. The change took place partly because of the large crowds that assembled for the