Rare Deanston Cotton Mills Perth (Perthshire) copper halfpenny token undated. Obverse: Overstrike in relief : "DEANSTON COTTON MILL". Reverse: Blank. The Adelphi Cotton Mills (also known as Deanston) were built in 1785 by John Buchanan of Carston and his brothers. They employed around 700 workers at that time, but since it was a predominantly agricultural area, they had difficulty in maintaining the workforce and the resulting financial problems forced them to sell the mills in January 1794. An account of a fire at the mills in December 1794 indicates that the then owners were Joseph Samuel and William Twigg. In 1808 the mills were bought by Kirkman Finlay and in 1837 they are listed under James Finlay & Co. The mill owners faced a major problem trying to pay their large workforce and overcame it by purchasing worn scrap "bad" halfpennies and overstriking them in their own name. They were then given as pay to the workers, possibly as truck tokens redeemable in the owner's shop. The Deanston tokens were probably issued after 1794. Listed in Davis as "R - RARE". Good collectable condition for the type with strong countermark, see photograph. Seaby ST No: 29, Davis No: 94, Scott No: 77.2. Diameter 29mm. Overstrike VF-. £95.00 e-mail David at enquiries@abccoinsandtokens.com to order. |