Thomas Williams, had a better idea. After striking coins with lettered edges that would be hard to clip, he tried to interest the Royal Mint in the new designs. No response. So in 1787 he began producing copper coins from his mine at Parys in Anglesey. He did not pretend they were pennies, but merely ‘tokens’ that could be exchanged for pennies, which was legal. The copper tokens were called ‘druids’. Beautifully designed and smoothly executed, they had a low relief of a hooded, bearded druid on one side, wreathed in oak leaves, with the letters ‘PMC’ – for Parys Mine Company – on the other
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