The Associated Irish Mine Company operated the Cronebane copper mines in County Wicklow, one of the most productive copper sources in the British Isles during the late eighteenth century. Like dozens of industrial concerns of the period, the company issued its own halfpenny tokens to relieve a chronic shortage of regal small change — the Royal Mint had effectively abandoned copper coinage for decades, leaving manufacturers and mine operators to fill the gap themselves.
The Anglesey connection is direct: these were struck at the Parys Mine Company's facilities on Anglesey, whose proprietors dominated the private token trade of the 1780s and 1790s.
The Associated Irish Mine Company operated the Cronebane copper mines in County Wicklow, one of the most productive copper sources in the British Isles during the late eighteenth century. Like dozens of industrial concerns of the period, the company issued its own halfpenny tokens to relieve a chronic shortage of regal small change — the Royal Mint had effectively abandoned copper coinage for decades, leaving manufacturers and mine operators to fill the gap themselves.
The Anglesey connection is direct: these were struck at the Parys Mine Company's facilities on Anglesey, whose proprietors dominated the private token trade of the 1780s and 1790s.