2 thoughts on “Guadeloupe, 1802 Issue of 4 & 1 Escalin Cut Countermarked Coins -The Modern Makers Mistake – K. V. Eckardt”
Really interesting and informative detective work. Is it known if Ernest Zay left any of his papers, perhaps with the Paris Numismatic Museum, where he may have recorded work on these ‘educational pieces’? Another thought, has any work been done on comparing the original and false pieces with regard to their cut edges? Was the central section always cut from one side (obverse/reverse) of the host? With no ‘original’ central pieces now known the work would have to be done on the inner edges of the outer cut pieces.
Thanks Eric for your comment. I believe the specific documentation regarding Ernest Zay and his ‘educational copies’ is specified in the publication by Jerome Jambu, referenced in my blog posting. This publication is in French so I would need translation assistance to get the full details.
With regards to the cutting of the original coin segments: I am not sure how this was accomplished, but I can say it must have been rather sophisticated tooling as the edges of the genuine 1 Escalin segments are at a sharper angle to 90 degrees than are normally found on Caribbean cut and countermarked coins. I can only assume the 4 Escalin segment would have similar cut edges. The Zay copy 1 Escalins have more of an angled edge while the copy 4 Escalin edges are virtually straight up and down with no angle at all. This suggests to me an ‘shaped tube’ cutting tool sharpened on the 8 outer sides, but straight inside the tube. I’m happy to share any new information that comes my way.
BNS Research Blog 
Really interesting and informative detective work. Is it known if Ernest Zay left any of his papers, perhaps with the Paris Numismatic Museum, where he may have recorded work on these ‘educational pieces’? Another thought, has any work been done on comparing the original and false pieces with regard to their cut edges? Was the central section always cut from one side (obverse/reverse) of the host? With no ‘original’ central pieces now known the work would have to be done on the inner edges of the outer cut pieces.
Thanks Eric for your comment. I believe the specific documentation regarding Ernest Zay and his ‘educational copies’ is specified in the publication by Jerome Jambu, referenced in my blog posting. This publication is in French so I would need translation assistance to get the full details.
With regards to the cutting of the original coin segments: I am not sure how this was accomplished, but I can say it must have been rather sophisticated tooling as the edges of the genuine 1 Escalin segments are at a sharper angle to 90 degrees than are normally found on Caribbean cut and countermarked coins. I can only assume the 4 Escalin segment would have similar cut edges. The Zay copy 1 Escalins have more of an angled edge while the copy 4 Escalin edges are virtually straight up and down with no angle at all. This suggests to me an ‘shaped tube’ cutting tool sharpened on the 8 outer sides, but straight inside the tube. I’m happy to share any new information that comes my way.