1 Penny 1811

Weight

19.2 g

Diameter

33.5 mm

Thickness

2 mm

Material

Copper

Shape

Round

Edge Type

Diagonally milled.

Technique

Milled

Front design

View of the Priest Field/Priestfield furnaces, legend in exergue.

Back design

Legend around and below denomination.

Year of Minting

1811

Ruler

NA

Mint location

Thomason's Manufactory , Birmingham, United Kingdom (1790-1849)

Mint mark

NA

Orientation

Medal alignment ↑↑

Inscriptions

Obverse: PRIEST FIELD FURNACES 1811 Reverse: BRADLEY BILSTON & PRIESTFIELD ONE PENNY PAYABLE AT BILSTON S. FEREDAY COLLIERIES & IRON WORKS

Context

Samuel Fereday was born in 1758. He started out as a coal hewer. Eventually he and his partners controlled a dozen blast furnaces. He was said to have issued over 2 million trade tokens. He went bankrupt in 1816 after failing to obtain a French import license for 200 miles of pipe for Paris. After failing to get his bankruptcy papers in 1821, he went to France. John Wilkinson, in his 1806 will, nominated Samuel Fereday (of Ettingshall Park) as one of several Trustees, to carry on his works at Bradley, Brymbo, and elsewhere. Fereday soon relinquished his trust. Wilkinson's nephew, Thomas Jones Wilkinson laid claim to the whole property. After protracted legal proceedings Thomas Jones Wilkinson became bankrupt, as did Samuel Fereday who had backed him. In 1811 Fereday issued an enormous number of one penny tokens featuring Priest Field/Priestfield furnaces. The tokens show three blast furnaces, and an intriguing large air reservoir is indicated between one of the furnaces and the blowing engine house. The engine house and an adjacent building have early examples of curved roofs. In the foreground are what are presumably ore calcining ovens.

Rarity

Ultra rare

Coin type

Merchant tokens

In circulation

No

Demonetized

Yes

Marketplace listings

0