The Union Copper Company operated copper smelting works near Birmingham during the early nineteenth century, and their 1812 penny token was issued at a moment when the Royal Mint's chronic failure to supply adequate small change had left manufacturers and merchants effectively running their own parallel coinage systems. Parliament had banned private token issues in 1797, then again more firmly in 1817, but the window between those prohibitions saw a second wave of copper tokens flood the Midlands and beyond. The Davis and Withers references place this piece firmly within the Birmingham commercial token tradition rather than the earlier Conder series.
The Union Copper Company operated copper smelting works near Birmingham during the early nineteenth century, and their 1812 penny token was issued at a moment when the Royal Mint's chronic failure to supply adequate small change had left manufacturers and merchants effectively running their own parallel coinage systems. Parliament had banned private token issues in 1797, then again more firmly in 1817, but the window between those prohibitions saw a second wave of copper tokens flood the Midlands and beyond. The Davis and Withers references place this piece firmly within the Birmingham commercial token tradition rather than the earlier Conder series.