Cragg Vale Coiners - Wikipedia
The Cragg Vale Coiners, sometimes the Yorkshire Coiners, were a band of counterfeiters in England, based in Cragg Vale, near Hebden Bridge, West Riding of Yorkshire. They produced fake gold coins in the late 18th century to supplement small incomes from weaving.
Led by "King" David Hartley Turvin, the Coiners obtained real coins from publicans, sometimes on the promise that they could "grow" the investment by smelting the original metals with base ores. They removed the coins' genuine edges and milled them again, collecting the shavings. The coins were only slightly smaller. They then melted down the shavings to produce counterfeits. Designs were punched into the blank "coins" with a hammer and a "coining kit". The Coiners then had their accomplices place the fakes into circulation. Most of the counterfeit coins had French, Spanish or Portuguese designs.
The Cragg Coiners were so successful because the region of Yorkshire they operated within was isolated from centralised England.
