British Copper Company 1812

Good Day
Bought this British 1812 penny like coin. Any idea of what it is worth. It is the form with realed sides.
Jannie

I can see only the lion side.
See these links:
http://walthamstowdiary.com/2013/04/06/making-money-in-walthamstow/#comments
https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/coins_to_medals/37/product/1812_great_britain__rolling_mills_1_penny_token/336289/Default.aspx
http://tokencatalog.com/token_record_forms.php?action=DisplayTokenRecord&td_id=361839&inventory_id=345571&attribution_id=370244&td_create_uid=250
http://www.haris.dk/products/3190-great-britain-british-copper-co-1-penny-rolling-mills-token-1812-vf.aspx


These coins were used by the companies for there workers to buy goods and food in the shops owned by these companies. To prevent that the workers spend their earnings in the pubs.

corrections welcome

I think it's a Truck Token.

They are often confused with the Conder Tokens but the are quite different although the periods overlap somewhat. Unlike Conders which were intended to be used as a substitute for the non existent crown issues, Truck Tokens were only redeemable at a specific, company owned shop.

Workers were kept in poverty by unscrupulous employers who would pay them in tokens instead of cash. Some of the worst cases involve workers being forced to trade part of their redemption in beer or liquor at a company run public house, leaving their families hungry. As the tokens were useless once you left your job they prevented workers from saving for retirement or hard times and the mill owners could regulate wages by manipulating the prices of goods in the company store.

The practice was abolished during the early 19th century when Parliament enabled the long overdue Truck Act.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces54557.html

Numista do have it in its listing. Also found some more info.
http://www.thecoppercorner.com/history/bct1811-1820_hist.html

Jannie

Indeed it is not a Conder token.
The catalog of Conder tokens can be downloaded from dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0qnancwzpghipt9/Coinage%20of%20the%2018th%20Century.pdf?dl=1

Thanks for the link, I've been looking for a version which was freely downloadable without having to sign up to some sketchy pdf sharing website.

Here's a link to the Wikipedia article on the truck System which should give a more accurate picture. Interesting that it is mentioned by Cobbett and continued for many years after it was officially outlawed. I can remember the company store in cotton mills being called the Tommy Shop although by that time it supplied the tools of the weaver's trade (which you had to buy yourself, the money was taken out of your wages!) rather than general goods.

There's a reference to them being called Tom and Jerry shops also, I wonder if this was the origin of the world famous cartoon duo?