British West Africa: 1940-KN 1/2 Penny PCGS SP64 King's Norton Mint Collection

British West Africa: 1940-KN 1/2 Penny PCGS SP64, from the King's Norton Mint Collection!

In 1889, Thomas Richard Bayliss in conjunction with his son, Thomas Abraham Bayliss, founded King’s Norton Metal Co. They would go on to become an important private mint and even supplied the Royal Mint via sub-contracting.

Their core business was derived from “Manufacturers of Naval and Military Ammunition, Rolled Metals, Wire. Specialities: Cartridges for Small Arms, Naval and Field Guns, Fuses, Primers, Specialist Metals, e.g. Cupro-Nickel, German Silver, Patent White Metals “Knalba I”, “Knalba II”, Soft Steel.”

Meanwhile, they continued to produce dies for themselves and other mints – one of these included the Irish Mint at Sandyford. In order to complete the deal, they would produce ‘specimen’ coins for examination and approval by their clients. They retained some of these specimens and proofs as exhibits in their “King’s Norton Collection.” It evolved into a large collection with examples of most on the specimen and proof coins the Kings Norton mint made for various countries and maintained in the mint collection.