Soho Mint - A World First!

Good Money tells the fascinating story of British manufacturers' challenge to the Crown's monopoly on coinage. In the 1780s, when the Industrial Revolution was gathering momentum, the Royal Mint failed to produce enough small denomination coinage for the factory owners to pay their workers. As the currency shortage threatened to derail industrial progress, manufacturers began to mint custom-made coins, called 'tradesmen's tokens.' Rapidly gaining wide acceptance, these tokens served as the nation's most popular currency for wages and retail sales until 1824 when the Crown outlawed all moneys except its own.

GOOD MONEY: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, 1775-1821

By George Selgin

Published 2008 by the University of Michigan Press.

ISBN 978-0-472-11631-7