I purchased the below-pictured dime some months ago. The name counterstamped thereon is "
E.C. ELY." As Ely isn't a common surname, and the initials' combo, E.C., is likewise less commonly encountered (by me, my many years of name searches), I thought this might be an attributable counterstamp. It's proving to be more difficult than anticipated.
Given that the 1850's was the
heyday decade of the counterstamping fad, my searches focused on that era. I quickly found a likely suspect in the person of one Erskine C. Ely of Greenfield, MA. He was a photographer there between 1856 and mid 1859; this, when he relocated to St. Louis, MO. For reasons as yet unknown, he retuned to Greenfield in early 1860; there, remaining in the photography business beyond the close of the war. Note that this info was garnered from
Craig's Daguerreian Registry, being a most informative listing of 19th century photographers.
My next step was to find and possibly procure a dagerreotype or ambrotype photo in a brass-framed casing. These brass mats, as they're called, often had a photographer's name and location stamped thereon. I've since been unable to locate such an item, stamped
E.C. ELY. However, I did manage to acquire a CDV or
carte de visite (paper photo), pictured below.
Note that the back of the CDV displays "E.C. Ely" as the "photographic artist." The formal use of initials in those days was more customary than use of a Christian name. Photographers of that era were then coping with rapid developments in their trade. Glass photos were succeeded by silver and then tin plates. By the beginning of the Civil War, cheaper paper photos were dominating the trade. As such, the aforementioned brass encasements with fancy, sometimes STAMPED brass mats disappeared.
If I can locate a pic of an early brass mat, bearing an
E.C. ELY name stamp which matches that on the dime (matches in size and font style), that will prove the source of the coin c/s. The first CCF member to provide me with such proof will receive from me another free 19th century coin that has an attributed c/s.
Posted 05/27/2026 11:37 am
