Catalog
1 Escalin
| Issuer | Colonial Government of Saint Lucia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1811 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Reverse of the triangular cut segment displays the crowned Royal Arms of Spain in milled cob style, featuring the quartered castle and lion design flanked by the Pillars of Hercules. The partial legend HISPANA (part of HISPANARUM) is legible along the reeded border at right, along with partial date numerals at lower field. The irregular cut edges expose the host planchet's unfinished surfaces, consistent with the makeshift nature of this emergency countermarked coinage. |
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| Mintage | 1811: ND (1811) |
| Additional information |
Saint Lucia changed hands between Britain and France fourteen times before the final British acquisition in 1814, and the island's coinage reflects that administrative chaos. The 1811 escalin belongs to a short-lived series of cut and countermarked Spanish colonial silver — host coins literally chopped and restruck to meet local demand when official metropolitan supply was absent. The escalin denomination itself is a French unit, still in use under British administration because the population and its commercial habits remained largely French-speaking.
KM#6 is among the scarcer pieces in this makeshift currency system, with documented examples thin on the ground.