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1 Penny Birmingham - Risca Union Copper Company
| Issuer | Risca Union Copper Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1811 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | 2.8 mm |
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| Obverse description | A view of an industrial complex featuring eleven chimneys dominates the central field, with smoke rising from the extreme left chimney and extending beyond the inner wire-line circle. The scene is rendered in a naïve but characterful engraving style typical of early nineteenth-century trade tokens. A circular legend surrounds the central vignette, with a beaded border enclosing the entire design. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | PAYABLE IN BIRMINGHAM · · + · · ONE PENNY TOKEN |
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| Additional information |
The Risca Union Copper Company operated collieries in Monmouthshire, and like many industrial concerns of the Napoleonic period, resorted to private token coinage when the Royal Mint's chronic shortage of small copper rendered legitimate change effectively unobtainable across much of Wales and the English Midlands. Parliament had failed to address the small-change famine for decades, leaving manufacturers and mine operators to commission their own tokens — Birmingham's Soho and other trade minting houses produced them by the millions between roughly 1787 and 1812.
The series was killed by the Coin Act of 1817, which outlawed private copper tokens and forced redemption.