CASTORLAND SCAVENGER HUNT ANNOUNCED

 

Castorland was long assumed to have been a small colony of French refugees but in fact Castorland was a 2,000 acre land speculation directed by the well-connected French banker, Pierre Chassanis. To add glamour to his enterprise Chassanis arranged for jetons to be minted and their relevance to American history made them sought by collectors. The coins were struck in small batches from 1796 into the mid-eighteen hundreds. To build a firm basis for their study I assembled descriptions of specimens into a Census of Original-Dies Castorland Jetons with the first specimen in the list identified as AA, the next one AB, etc. The Census ID's proceed alphabetically and the most recently added specimen is DO. So the Census now has 93 fully described specimens.

To stimulate interest in searching out even more specimens I'm inviting researchers to accompany me on a scavenger hunt. Researchers who describe new specimens for the Census will be honored (and enriched) by the handsome Jefferson Monetary Award for Excellence in Numismatic Research certificate. An easy to follow guide, How to Identify Original-Dies Castorland Jetons, can be viewed on the NNP. It includes a listing by Type of all specimens currently in the Census. And the money reward is real, but winners have to find it.

Why is the Award named Jefferson? Because Thomas Jefferson when Secretary of State was approached by Chassanis' agent, Simon Desjardins. Jefferson wanted no part in Chassanis' enterprise, which he saw destined to fail and he gave Desjardins a cool reception, but such was not the case with Gouverneur Morris, Jefferson's fellow signatory to the United States Constitution. Morris served as an agent of La Compagnie de New York during its demise.

 

To read How to Identify the Seven Types of Original-Dies Castorland Jetons on Newman Portal, see:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/booksbyauthor/556055

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
HOW TO IDENTIFY CASTORLAND JETONS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n17a08.html)

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