To celebrate the achievements of the Cornish mining industry, the South Crofty Collection has produced a unique collection of five coins, the Spirit of Cornwall mining history coins.  The collection combines Cornwall's two most historically important metals, tin and copper.  There are four coins in Cornish tin from three different sources and one in Cornish copper.  All have individual history and authentication.  Two different traditional methods of production have been used, hand casting and die striking.

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The coins represent seven hundred years of the industry, from the Seal of the 1305 Edward 1 Stannary Charter, through the 18th Century copper half–pennies and the 19th Century pennies, produced by the most successful mines, mining families and adventurers.

The collection then brings the story of Cornish mining into the 21st Century with a new design based on South Crofty, the last tin mine in both Cornwall and the UK, which ceased operations in March 1998 and which now takes her place alongside Dolcoath, long referred to as “the Queen of Cornish mine”s.

The three central coins in the collection are replicas of tokens issued during the period of greatest activity in the Cornish mining industry, which began towards the end of the 17th Century.  All are accurate reproductions made using examples of the relatively few originals of each which have survived.  Tokens of this type were produced mainly in copper or brass.

For hundreds of years before organised minting became controlled and centralised in London and Wales, and adequate quantities of legal tender came into circulation, tokens were produced in many major towns to meet demand for low denomination coins, particularly to trade and pay wages.

With the Industrial Revolution well under way and the County engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, high demand for metals and minerals fueled the development and massive expansion of manufacturing and commercial activity generally and of the mining industry, particularly in Cornwall.  With thousands employed and business activity booming, shortages of legal tender coins led to production of tokens by a number of mining companies in Cornwall to pay those employed and provide a local means of trading.  However, throughout the period fluctuations in metal prices meant that during times of high metal prices – when the value of the metal content in the tokens was greater than the face value – vast quantities of tokens were melted down and only when copper prices fell would production of new tokens begin again.

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