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THIS OBJECT IS PART OF THE PROJECT 'A HISTORY OF CORNWALL IN 100 OBJECTS'.

KING EDWARD MINE. Stamps were large machines used to pound and crush ore from mines. Before the introduction of stamps into Cornwall, this work was mostly done by hand by women known as Balmaidens (see miner's tull and balmaiden's clogs). Stamps were introduced into Cornwall in the early 19th Century and were usually water powered. The noise they produced was very loud and at some cliff top mines it was said that the noise of the stamps was used by sailors as a navigational aid!

Californian Stamps were introduced in America during the gold rush of the late 1840s and differed from the traditional Cornish stamps design in several ways notably five not four stamps heads which were circular rather than square. By the end of the 19th century better performing Californian stamps began to be used in Cornwall.

This set of Californian stamps was made by Messrs Fraser and Chalmers of East Kent, under license and came from the Paris Exposition of 1900.

Photo: Bernie Pettersen