Token: A brass check given to a Cumbrian miner to represent his hard work underground
MANY of the pioneer miners in coal and iron pits in Cumbria were not given regular wages but were effectively self-employed and received payment for each tub filled with saleable material.
A reminder of those days, a small brass coal check, sold for £70 at an auction held at a congress of token collectors in Northampton. It had a pre-sale estimate of just £10.
It features a Boulton and Watt steam pumping engine on one side and a merchant sailing ship on the other.
Tokens were given to miners on piece work at the Greysouthen Pits, run by Harris and Fawcett in West Cumbria in the 19th century, and redeemed for cash.
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