Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Escalin
| Issuer | British Administration of Martinique |
|---|---|
| Year | 1793-1801 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Triangular cut segment of the reverse of a Spanish colonial 2 Reales coin, showing a partial crowned shield of the Spanish royal arms with a lion passant visible in one quarter. The denomination numeral '2' appears in the field alongside the mint assayer initials 'PJ' below, with the partial legend 'HISP' visible along the arc. The crowned shield and partial legend identify the host coin as a Spanish colonial issue struck under Charles IV. |
| Reverse script | Latin |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Britain seized Martinique from Revolutionary France in 1794 and held it until 1802, administering the island through a period when the Paris government's currency reforms made French coinage politically unacceptable in royalist-leaning colonial circles. The escalin — a denomination with deep roots in the French Caribbean monetary tradition — was retained rather than replaced, a pragmatic concession to local commercial habit.
KM#25 was produced from cut and countermarked Spanish colonial silver, the chronic shortage of purpose-struck coinage forcing the British administration to rework whatever circulating metal was available.