Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 73906, member: 112&quot;]Essai is a French term - the closest word in english I suppose would be pattern. But they weren&#039;t test sets or coins. Essais were struck as part of a contest if you will. When the govt. decided to change a coin&#039;s design they would hold a copmpetition. Various artist would submit their entry, essais would be struck and given to the judges and a winner for the new coin design would be chosen from them.</p><p><br /></p><p>Essais were often struck in various metals, copper, silver, gold, platinum - even base metal, and many times the same design would be struck in more than one or all of the above metals. They were also struck in different thicknesses - some were normal coin thickness, others were struck in what is known as pierfort ( eng. piedfort ), or double thickness. </p><p><br /></p><p>Some can be quite rare, but value is strictly determined by demand as most are not that expensive at all.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in