Counterstamp (elephant?) on George III crown.....any help??

savoyspecial

picked this up recently and just wondered if anyone can identify the countermark.....resembles an elephant and might be of India origin







thanks for any info
greg

coachleonard

no info, but that is one interesting countermark!

farthing

The only reference book I have is on English countermarks on copper/bronze coins - British Countermarks on Copper & Bronze Coins by J. Gavin Scott.. There is a listing for an unattributed elephant countermark on a 1797 penny. The entry lists it as an incuse countermark of a elephant looking left. Unfortunately - no picture provided.

The book lists the elephant countermark as a possible unofficial use of a brand-marking punch or a hotel or pub check. The book does reference a known countermarker - Thomas Bartleet of Birmingham, and latter, London. Thomas was a buttonmaker and general hardware maker from 1800+ and from London from 1830. Listings in directories for Bartleet's company disappeared by 1900.

savoyspecial

thanks for the info.....anyone else??

greg

coinsarefun

I can't help you ID this one







But......I can tell you its very






Stefanie

savoyspecial

thanks Stef,

a slight cropping of your 1793 Yorkshire HalfPenny has me more convinced than ever that this is an elephant






notice the resemblance?


i believe i read somewhere that certain cultures believe an elephant's trunk in an upward position means good luck

Muygrandeoso

Very Cool!!!

Thanks for sharing.

lordmarcovan

I once had a Ceylon 1-stiver coin with George III on the obverse and an elephant on the reverse.

As the design, that is, not a counterstamp. Still, I can't help but wonder if the elephant could be associated with Ceylon (Sri Lanka) somehow?

India's the strongest theory and a practically foregone conclusion , but of course Ceylon ain't far off the coast of India.

(Eh, now that I've made a "foregone conclusion", watch it turn out to be from homeland England.)

TokenTinker

I can see the probable end of the elephant trunk but my first impression was that it was a fox and a badger. It's a bit like the tale of the four blind men, which could be more the point. The stamp could depict, not a specific creature, but an animale di fantasia - a zoological concoction born from travelogues, fancy and whim. Madagascar inspired no end of fantastic zoological invention as well as did southeast asia and the Indonesian Malay archipelago. We don't bat an eye at the fantastic animals of ancient mythology when they appear on coins, medals, maps, and dust-covers (take the Phoenix or Pegasus for Greece or the Medusa for Sicily or the Dragon for Wales or 2-headed eagles for so many places) There was a short historical tenure that some of our zoological inventions had - these coming at that time in our history when we suddenly had all the flora and fauna of a globe to contend with and only sailors' tales for verification. Could be curious - could be an elephant.