The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 33, August 15, 2004, Article 21

MORE ON THE  "E" AND "L" COUNTERSTAMPS

  Responding to Mark Borckardt's comments regarding the
  E and L counterstamps, Tom DeLorey writes:
  "Although a few old Mint dies were floating around in
  numismatic circles back in the 19th Century, the hand
  punching of the lettering in slightly variable positions would
  have made it necessary to find the precise die that struck
  this small hoard of high grade coins, and not just any reverse
  die of this type.

  Also, a private counterstamper would have had no need to
  find and use a reverse die. Judging from Brunk
  counterstamping was rather common in the 19th Century,
  and nobody seemed to mind if the coin so marked came
  out slightly bent or cup-shaped.

  As to the suggestion that a soft (as in softer than the coin)
  base could have been used, I have done a number of
  counterstamps over the years, using either an anvil or a
  block of wood as my base, and the only thing that did
  not warp was a gold Krugerrand."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum