colliery checks

Nothing to do with gardening i know but i know how generous we gardeners are. I am an ex miner of 33 years & a collector of colliery checks/tokens, Is there anyone out there who could help me obtain some of thes tokens, plants available as swaps if required.
There must be some ex colliers as interested in gardening as i am who could help?

 

Don't worry about it not being garden related Juneil, we talk about everything & more on here

That sounds facinating, I hope someone can help out

 

Spent the start of my working life doing "underground work for the government" still got my knee pads they're great for gardening!
Sorry no colliery checks though.

 

I can only hope!!

 

What's a Colliery check? Pardon my ignorance!

 

It's a little brass disc with a number on it. About the size of an old penny.
They are/were used to ensure that a man that went down the pit had returned to the surface at the end of his shift. In the pits/mines I worked in you collected your check from the lamp cabin when you picked up your lamp and returned it with your lamp at the end of your shift.

 

colliery check

I've had a couple of members ask me what a colliery check is.
They are brass discs about the size of an old penny and are embossed with the colliery name & stamped with the miners own number. They were used as a safety measure to accurately record the number of men underground at any one time. Some were also pay checks which the miner used to draw his wages.
Hope this helps....Bill