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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Dafydd, post: 26418759, member: 86815&quot;]Here&#039;s some history behind your coin. There are several types, yours is particularly nice. It was made from Copper mined in Wales.</p><p>In 1768, a massive discovery was made at Parys Mountain on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales, when a huge seam of copper ore was unearthed. This &quot;Great Discovery&quot; led to the development of what would become the largest copper mine in the world for a time, transforming the landscape and the local economy. The sheer scale of the operation was immense, with the mine producing millions of tons of high-grade copper ore over the next 150 years. This copper was critical for Britain&#039;s industrial revolution and its naval power, as it was used to sheath the hulls of warships to protect them from barnacles and rot, famously including Nelson&#039;s flagship, HMS Victory. The mining operations, managed by the influential Anglesey-born lawyer Thomas Williams, not only dominated the international copper market but also led to significant industrial and social change in the area.</p><p>I live about 40 Miles from Swansea which is a seaport that became known as &quot;Copper Bay&quot; or &quot;Copperopolis&quot;. Royal Navy ships and ships from around the world berthed there to be copper clad. The phrase &quot;<b>copper-bottomed</b>&quot; originates from the 18th-century practice of sheathing the bottoms of naval and merchant ships in copper to protect the hulls from shipworms, barnacles, and other marine organisms, a measure that made the vessels more durable, faster, and more reliable, leading to the term&#039;s metaphorical meaning of being completely reliable or trustworthy.</p><p><br /></p><p>Due to a severe shortage of small denomination coinage from the Royal Mint in the late 18th century, the Parys Mining Company, under Thomas Williams&#039;s direction, took a novel approach to paying its workers. They began minting their own copper tokens, which became known as &quot;Condor tokens&quot; after a prominent numismatist of the era, James Condor. The most famous of these tokens is the one featuring a hooded Druid&#039;s head, wreathed in oak leaves and acorns, on its obverse. This striking and distinctly Welsh design became one of the most widely recognized images on private tokens in the country. The reverse of these tokens typically featured the monogram of the Parys Mining Company (PMC) and a promise to pay the bearer the value of the token, often &quot;on demand in London, Liverpool or Anglesey.&quot; These copper tokens were so abundant and widely accepted that they effectively served as a form of currency, alleviating the coinage crisis and establishing a fascinating chapter in British numismatic history.</p><p>Many of these coins were minted By Matthew Boulton at his Soho Mint in Birmingham using the latest technology of the time. </p><p>To Wales and the rest of the country, Anglesey and the copper mine was the equivalent of the Silver mountain at Potosi , Bolivia for a period.</p><p>I will post my coin when I find it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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