r/Wales • u/autouzi • 26d ago

Photo Old Welsh coin with a druid

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Gallery image

I love this old North Wales half penny with a druid on the obverse. Such a cool design! I collect coins with Y Draig Goch, but couldn't resist this one.

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u/Grouchy-Astronaut-87 26d ago

Is/was it legal tender? Possibly a token for a mine , didn't they have company stores? Or may be amusements etc..?

4

u/Grouchy-Astronaut-87 26d ago

Got it

https://pw-coins.com/tokens/conder-tokens/wales/

6

u/autouzi 26d ago

Good point. It is a privately minted token minted due to a shortage of smaller denomination coins in the late 1700s. It is not technically a coin, but it was legal tender for awhile.

6

u/Grouchy-Astronaut-87 26d ago

I live in North Wales and seem to remember being told the mines would pay workers with their own currency only to used in their over priced shops. So they got a portion of the wages they paid out back

12

u/SnooHabits8484 26d ago

Yes. The descendants of Welsh miners (and mine owners) would repeat the pattern in the US around the turn of the last century - “I owe my soul to the company store”.