Left: Original painting by Antonio Salas, Quito, 1842. Photo of the original used with permission of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Right: Jamesonwith his three sons in Argentina. Standing; Tomas and Juan Jameson-Olivero. Seated ; Guillermo Jameson-Olivero and William Jameson. Photo was taken in 1870 at the photographicstudio of Grandin and Metaine in Mendoza.

William (Guillermo) Jameson - An Unlikely Mint Director

The initials "G.J." prominently displayed on Ecuadorian coins dated from 1832 through 1862 are the assayer's mark of William (Guillermo) Jameson the chief assayer of the Quitomint in Ecuador. Jameson was later the Mint Director. His background and inclination for that office was about as unlikely as can be imagined.

The seven page article is rather interesting. Dale Seppa is planning on putting it in its entirety in his next price list of Ecuadorian coins. Any interested party can writeDale at daleseppa@gmail.com for a copy of that list or a PDF of the article alone.

With exception of the addition of the photos and a few additional details this article is condensed from Appendix I of A Numismatic History of Ecuador by Michael J.Anderson, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.N.S., with his kind permission. The original Appendix includes much more information, particularly botanical and genealogical as well as extensivefootnotes for those interested in greater detail.