I have been looking at the links above and finding my own new links. I would agree with the discussion. Here is the
French wiki that I translated, I
hope the link works for the English translation:
https://fr-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Élie_Boudeau?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wappThe daughter is mentioned in this one. Here is the
French original:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Élie_BoudeauA translation of another
French page mentions "Emile" as follows: "Many books on
numismatics are indicated as having "Emile
Boudeau" for author: probably by mistake! Refer to the General
Catalog (online)."
The
French page is here:
https://cths.fr/an/savant.php?id=121103Note that there are number of
his books for sale, mostly reprints and print on demand, and all the listings use "Elie."
So, the real question is the date of the envelope. I emailed the dealer and asked if he knew or could find out when the coin was purchased. I am not sure, but get the idea that he is sin touch with the family. I may be totally wrong, but I am thinking that the lower
quality coins are being sent to dealers, while the higher
quality coins are/were being auctioned. Again, I may be wrong. On the envelop, I may change my tag and listing to "prior to 1920" and explain that the tag was mostly done by Germaine.
But, then I noticed
his full name is Jean Elie
Boudeau. Is there any chance that the letter is actually a "J?" J is closer to G, for sure. It
still looks like a "G," but could be a "J."
I also saw a page that discussed
Boudeau's brushes with the law, which is on the
French page, quote here:
"In August 1892, the Seine prosecutor's office filed an arrest warrant against
Boudeau in the context of the Vergnaud affair, a
baker and
money changer from the rue de Rennes on the run [ 4 ] . He was then implicated in the affair of the Caisse centrale de
Paris, and the owner of
his soap factory in Saint-Ouen filed a complaint for unpaid debts. He declares himself innocent on both counts. In the midst of this tumult, he then went to
Lyon and the press declared him missing [ 5 ] . In 1895, he would have been arrested by the Belgian gendarmerie and handed over to
French justice for acts of fraudulent bankruptcy. He was imprisoned in Lille prison before
his transfer to
Paris."
Seems quite an interesting character.
In retrospect, it seems we are all finding the same pages. But on one of my searches, David Atherton's
gallery came up. It seems
Boudeau is
still used as a reference for
French medieval coins. The one page I couldn't find was the English
Wikipedia entry, I am sure I found it before. Oh well.
Cheers,
Virgil