The following stamped "rare" NCB checks have appeared on e-bay - 290235948111 Newtown; 290235946542 Bradford; 290235945066 Moston; 290235943445 Ellesmere; 290235941075 Oldham.
They are all Doncaster area shapes and each shows signs of filling in and overstamping.
Can anyone verify them as the respective colliery checks, or are they cuckoos.

Dare I say it, this is the same seller as last time!


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290235948111&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D290235948111%26fvi%3D1 


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290235943445&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D290235943445%26fvi%3D1 


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290235946542&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D290235946542%26fvi%3D1 


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290235941075&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D290235941075%26fvi%3D1 


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290235945066&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D290235945066%26fvi%3D1 

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Whilst I dont do mining checks I do do odd railway pay checks... look at the stamps for the locations... its all the same type face... if pit checks are like the railway ones it was quite common to fill and re-use but the type face varies even within the same depots on many of mine.... I would be very surprised if every pit involved in the NCB had the same stamps of identical size and type face, the NCB was probably machine stamped when the blanks were mass produced. The numbers seem ok as there are 2 type faces there.... you need to decide if you believe the locations..... but there again I am not an expert on pay checks... so buyer beware!

Were pit checks re-used and centrally re-stamped I would ask bearing in mind the identical type face???

Hope that helps, Regs ICLOK

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heres a check i got given by a neighbor that worked bradford in the ncb days its some kind of tin, and if im corect dose pc stand for pay check.
[photo]Personal-Album-252-Image-033[/photo]

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Thanks for your posting, yes the one you have is the correct pay check, I have these also in my collection. Machine stamped and not an amateur job like those above!!

Thanks ICLOCK Your observation on the type face is telling. These pits opened and closed many years apart. If genuine the letter punch must have been a travelling heirloom, its turned up at so many pits - I think not!!

The bradford pit check made of Tin , that is mild steel coverd in
tin in a coal mine ...I do not think so, this is a Bradford PC
That is Bradford Yorkshire Public Council oval plate :lol:

The pit checks on ebay are from the western area of the NCB
THE WESTERN AREA ran from cumbria to Shropshire, west midlands, most of Staffordshire,North wales and in the center
was Lancashire, Manchester. each miner was given two checks
one was eight sided 34mm across the other round with the
bottom cut of 27mm top to bottom both were stamped
N.C.B. AT THE TOP THEN THE NUMBER AND THEN THE MINE
LOOKING thru my books on the western area, in the book
The East Shropshire Coalfields by ivor j Brown there is drawing
of an eight sided check on page 112.
🙂

Hi Westmine, all the colletcore I know have one of these as Bradford Lancs. It is alloy and bendy. It would be Bradford Town Council or the area Metropolitan Council if what you suggest. This the problem with stamped checks and a lot of collectors don't touch them for this reason. I enclose pics of another "Bradford" check alongside embossed alloy Lancs checks which are better. Will not insert so will try later

🔗Personal-Album-1295-Image-001[linkphoto]Personal-Album-1295-Image-001[/linkphoto][/link]

hi westlife its a shame you find it funny that im no expert in this subject i just posted to show a comparison,im also not a metalurgist so tin is the best decription i could find,also if you take a spade to the irk valley in clayton you will find where bradford colliery tipped thier rubbish and many years ago people were pulling these checks up all the time from the spoil.plus if it is indeed a "pay check" wont that mean it stayed above ground for drawing wages at the office thereby not needing to be brass...but then im no expert so im guessing here.

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if it is bendy and white metal then it is FAKE
THE NCB checks ARE 1.25 to1.30mm thick and do not bend

The check we are talking about is aluminium and will bend under pressure, as I have said all the collectors I know have one of these and believe they are Bradford Pit checks, That is the trouble with stamped checks there can be disputes over peoples views. That is why I posted pics of the aluminium embossed checks to illustrate the difference. And I am not selling any of these ambiguous checks, so will not encourage anyone to buy any. I disagree with your explanation of eight sided and cut off circular Lancashire checks, you sound like the person who is selling these kind of checks using an alias.

The checks in aluminium have no numbers...

These are unissued checks from the pits concerned AND NOT for sale, so there is no question on authenticity. They were acquired at the same time as the 12 of the only known Chanters Collieries and Atherton Collieries special lamps checks in brass and numbered, after a number of years trying to persuade the holder to part with them. Again absolutely no question on authenticity. Unlike amateur hand stamped, same typeface on checks supposed to years and distance seperated from each different pit in the clutch for sale. Lesson is don't buy dodgy looking checks. If the deal looks good - it probably is to good to be true.

The checks in white metal that is with no letters, were made
for the Lancashire mining museum and sold, and given away
to visitors, they were made by EXcalibur PLC west bromich .
There were 28000 visitors a year to Buill hill museum, all the
Manchester colleries i have seen do not have the name of the
company on them just the number and the name of the mine.

As I said on the big round alloy checks, there can be no quetion about authenticity because they are NOT for sale and they were acquired with other embossed checks. It would be nice for an acknowledged ex curator of the museum concerned and the acknowledged ex personnel of the scrap yard to verify events.
However the special Atherton Collieries checks, although not for sale I can pre-reply to any question of authenticity - they are authentic and very rare. I enclose pics for the interest of genuine collectors to enjoy, even claimed potholers that know more than Old Moores almanac on checks and is probably the seller of the checks that started this very good blog. It proves one thing - be very carefull over hand stamped unauthenticated checks.
🔗Personal-Album-1295-Image-002[linkphoto]Personal-Album-1295-Image-002[/linkphoto][/link]
🔗Personal-Album-1295-Image-003[linkphoto]Personal-Album-1295-Image-003[/linkphoto][/link]

You are so wrong, I have full provenance on these checks back to before CAD was invented!!!! And they are not for sale so I am not trying to con anyone, unlike the fraudulent sellers of Dodgy checks to unsuspecting collectors now and in the recent past. You are trying to cloud the issue of dodgy checks for some reason by throwing wild cards in. As I have said previously you are very "knowledgable" on checks with suspect facts to justify your explanations, just identical to the seller of the dodgy checks that started this whole issue. Declare for once and for all that you are totally against any sales of fake checks and you will give your full support to eradicate this scandalous practice.

This is from a member of the derbyshire caving club who is not
registerd on aditnow.

Living in Manchester in the late fifties for a school boy wanting adventure
The place was the Alderley Edge mines in order to enter the mines
You needed two main items a pit hat and a cap lamp, to get the pit hat
You went to Bradford pit and as the men came up in the cage, A MATE
CAN I HAVE YOUR HAT…they would chuck the hat at you .
To get a cap lamp you went to the scrap yard in Hyde for your Oldham
Cap lamp, the first thing you did was get the tool to remove the screw
On the battery top, open the top discard the fuse, you can then charge up
The battery on lead terminals with a 6volt battery charger, the other things
You needed you got from the pits, change the diffuse reflector to a beam
Reflector and get spare bulbs , Oldham lamps at crown point Denton
Would not sell you anything, Bradford pit spares no chance, so it was off
Newtown Pit in Salford, tell the men in the lamp room you needed
The spares for a science lesson at school he would give you anything.
I remember the pit checks well, they are the same being sold on eBay
The other pit to visit was Ashton Moss this was the supply pit to
Bradford pit , when these pits closed everything was sold of from
Ashton Moss there were boxes of pit checks all the local mines
They were sold off by weight just above the scrap price of brass
The old ones had raised letters, we were told to stop fraud.
::)

i might add that alderley edge mines were not open in the 1950s,after negotitations by a mr derek heath with the national trust access was granted on the proviso that the mines were gated and locked, "schoolboys could not just wander down there.i should know my father was a founder of orpheus (later the dcc) along with a close family friend also founder member who both pioneered the opening up of alderley.
ater sending a pic of my alloy check to the National Mining Memorabilia Association they assure me it is indeed a bradford pay check,having been laughed at for having an alleged fake check even though an ex bradford miner gave it to my family i now feel at least i can now bow out and leave this subject to those in the know. :thumbsup:

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