Catalog
2 Escalins
| Issuer | Saint-Domingue (1625-1804) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1802 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Full-length standing figure of Liberty facing forward, draped in classical robes, flanked to her left by a fasces with axe and to her right by a tall pole surmounted by a Phrygian liberty cap. The figure stands on a recessed rectangular ground line, with the circular legend REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE arching around the periphery. Mint initials T.S. appear in the lower exergual area, separated by pellets. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE . T . S . (Translation: French Republic) |
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| Additional information |
Saint-Domingue's monetary situation in 1802 was catastrophic. Napoleon had dispatched General Leclerc with 20,000 troops that January to crush the Haitian Revolution and restore slavery, and the colonial economy — already shattered by a decade of war — had no functioning mint of its own. The 2 Escalins was produced by countermarking and cutting Spanish colonial silver, a makeshift solution to a chronic shortage of recognized local currency.
Leclerc was dead of yellow fever by November of that same year, taking with him any realistic chance of French restoration.