Rosetta Stone Replicas

West bank of the Nile

The Rosetta Stone is an irregularly shaped slab of rock weighing about 1,700 pounds. As they were preparing to build the foundation for Fort Julian (later known as Fort Rashid) on the West Bank of the Nile, French soldiers found it in 1799 (see photo to left). That village, called Rashid, was translated as “Rosetta;” hence the name. By 1799 the ability to read hieroglyphs had been lost for almost two centuries. The stone is a fragment of an ancient slab proclaiming the “Memphis Decree” in 196 BC, praising the Egyptian king PtolemyV on the first anniversary of his coronation.

The face has 14 lines of hieroglyphs (It is estimated that there were 29 lines prior to breakage), 32 lines of cursive Demotic, and, at the bottom, 54 lines of Ancient Greek (language introduced after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great). All proclaim the same message. The Rosetta Stone was quickly recognized as an incredible discovery. Even though the British defeated the French, a battle of intrigue followed.

In September 1801 English Colonel Turner, who had fought and won at Aboukir Bay and Alexandria, went to visit General Menou to take the stone back to Britain under the terms of the Treaty of Capitulation. Turner cited the 16th article of the treaty, and Menou handed it over grudgingly. The French had the foresight to make several copies of the inscriptions, which served them well after the British acquired the stone. Both the French and the British knew they had something valuable on their hands, but it would take years to crack the code inscribed on the Rosetta Stone. Only then would its true worth be revealed.

Margie Parent writes, "...in the spasmodic voyage from Egypt to England, many of the Egyptian antiquities were damaged. Because of the importance of the Rosetta Stone, however Colonel Turner personally accompanied this precious cargo on its journey aboard a frigate. The Rosetta stone left Egypt from Alexandria and sailed into the English Channel in February 1802. At Deptford the stone was placed in a small boat and taken through customs. It was [initially] lodged at the quarters of the Society of Antiquaries so experts could examine it...."

The secret to hieroglyphics was ultimately deciphered in 1822 by Jean-Francois Champollion (see image to right), the brilliant French academic who specialized in ancient languages of the Middle East.

Champollion compared the three texts, all stating the same Decree. (Since these three languages were all used at the time, the Decree had to be “published” in all of them.) The overwhelming importance of the translation is that it made it possible to read hundreds of hieroglyph inscriptions on many other tombs.

Jean Champollion

   Cracking the code of the hieroglyphs was enormously important for understanding the history and culture of ancient Egypt, thus revealing details of a civilization going back close to 4,000 years BC. The genuine (one and only) Rosetta Stone is housed in a museum in the United Kingdom.

1st-generation cast of the Rosetta
Stone owned by The Freeman Institute
   In the 1970’s, the afore-mentioned museum made a mold of the full face of the Stone, and cast a small number of 1st-generation reproductions..

   The Freeman Institute bought one of these facsimiles (see image to left) from a gentleman who was informed that only 12-15 had been made, and that he had acquired the last one. (It had been stored in the basement and the museum cleaned it before packing it.)

   It is a first-generation, full-size casting in black resin with the characters in white (carnauba wax and chalk compound), made from a direct mold of the face. The size of the casting is approximately 38 inches in height, 30 inches in width, and the resin is molded so that it has a two-inch sides.

The company in charge of sales for this museum, informed us as follows: “Unfortunately we do not have any records of how many Rosetta Stone casts were produced. However, (we) estimate that it would have been two or three a year (in the 1970s) at the very most.”

It's safe to say there relatively few full-size, first-generation facsimiles of the Rosetta Stone (manufactured in the 1970s) that exist in the entire world.

How would you like to own
and exhibit a full-size, 3-D
replica of the Rosetta Stone?

The Stone That Told The Sphinx's Secrets

This would make the ultimate gift for someone who has everything. An inspiring conversation piece.

A corporation may want to exhibit the full-size 3-D replica in the "public-area" foyer of the company.

A museum may want to exhibit the replica, with an exhibit of Jean Champollion and the global impact that emerged from cracking of the linguistic code of hieroglyphics.

An upscale restaurant. A university. A large city library. So many ideas...

Early 1900s
"magic lantern"
glass slide image of
the Rosetta Stone

We are developing a full-size, 3-D mold of the Rosetta Stone, which will include a depth of about 11 inches. The face of the mold, which is the most important part of the Stone, has been lasered from the face of the 1st generation cast mentioned above (see photos below). The sides and rear of the Rosetta Stone Replica have been painstakingly rendered artistically from photos of the Rosetta Stone taken by Dr. Freeman on his many visits to the UK over the years.

The Rosetta Stone was cleaned in 2004. Along with many other interesting aspects, the cleaning of the Rosetta Stone basically revealed that it was made of granite, not basalt. We are confident that the cleaning process did not alter the original integrity of the Rosetta Stone. If that is the case, the cleaning of the Rosetta Stone did not significantly alter the structure, the precise placement or design of the lettering, or its external shape/form. It is those elements upon which we focus.

The museum-quality replicas we are designing will be about as close as anyone can get to owning or exhibiting the real thing. We are even constructing a base, similar to the one pictured to the left.

Why are we doing all this? Watching the "Jay Walking" segments with Jay Leno on evening TV reveals how little people know about modern or ancient history. It's as sad and as frightening as it is humorous. Our desire is to educate people -- young and old alike -- about the significance of the Rosetta Stone, understanding its role in cracking the code to Hieroglyphics -- which helped to spawn the intriguing fields of Archaeology and Egyptology.

People viewing the replicas will want to learn more. Our main passion is to develop an excitement in the hearts of people to want to travel to view the real Rosetta Stone, which is exhibited in London.

The reconstruction part of making the mold is a painstaking process and we will take our time to make sure that the face of the replica is designed as close to perfection as is possible. We have already developed a 3-D digital image of the Rosetta Stone through the kindness of a wonderful company (see image to right). From this image we are creating the aluminum mold. The mold will then be used to fabricate the full-size, 3-D replicas. See how it all works below:

LASER SCANNING (Non-Contact)

Laser Scanning is the process of shining a structured laser line over the surface of an object in order to collect 3-dimensional data. The surface data is captured by a camera sensor mounted in the laser scanner which records accurate dense 3D points in space. Laser Scanners are non-contact devices used to gather 3D digital data from a variety of objects. A beam of light passes over the object while a camera mounted inside the scanner records the position of the laser. This 3D data is then transferred to the computer and the image is "drawn" in 3D on the screen. The Xystum XSM (pictured to the right) automatic 3-axis machine with a laser scanning probe option is what was used on the Rosetta Stone Replica project. Accuracy: 0.0005" -- Below are images of the Rosetta Stone replica being scanned. One of the leading companies in this technology in the world has completed this project...soon to be unveiled (see more photos below).

Digital Modeling is the process of creating a computer model of an object that exactly replicates the form of the object. Laser scanners are used to capture the 3D data of the object, and then this data is transferred to the computer where it is aligned and edited and finalized as a complete 3D model. Here's how it works:

scanning item

digital information transferred to computer

computer model

mold created and replica manufactured

exact replica

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I M P O R T A N T * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our goal is to benefit the education and the inspiration of the masses (especially young people) about the impact the Rosetta Stone has had upon our understanding of Egypt (located in Africa) and the rest of the world. We also want to create a desire within everyone who actually sees a replica and learns more
about it, to travel to experience the real Rosetta Stone -- currently exhibited in the UK.

The legal (international copyright laws, international intellectual property laws, Berne Convention, Madrid Protocol, et al) and educational research required in developing these replicas has been time-consuming and very costly. We have tried to think of every potential challenge to this project and have taken each step forward with integrity. The specific name of the British-based museum (which now exhibits the genuine Rosetta Stone) is copyrighted in the USA and will never be used when explaining, marketing or exhibiting any of these replicas. The Rosetta Stone replicas will always be represented to the public as facsimiles. The Rosetta Stone Replicas activities/products are NOT affiliated with, endorsed by or authorized by any museum, the country of Egypt, or any other educational or marketing entity. It is our true desire for this project to be an inspirational tool for the masses...educating them about the Rosetta Stone and then encouraging each one to make plans to visit and behold the genuine Rosetta Stone in London.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Two proposed replicas of the Rosetta Stone:
(1). full-size 3-D replica (about 11 inches thick -- approx. 45" x 30").
(2). another model that we are keeping a secret until it is unveiled.

We will also recreate the original exhibition base you see in the image (London Illustrated, 1874) to the right. These exhibition bases will be available only for the full-size 3-D model. We are currently working on the pricing of the exhibition bases. We will also be developing exquisitely framed copies of the 1874 London Illustrated image -->

It was originally thought that the Rosetta Stone inscription was carved into basalt. But in recent years (after cleaning) it has been determined that the genuine Rosetta Stone is actually granodiorite rock (see sample to the left).

Granodiorite Rock / Rosetta Stone

This is a strange, mixed rock. It has a high quartz content, like a granite, but also a high mafic (amphibole/biotite) content (10-25%) more like a diorite. Granodiorite is typically intermediate colored with a subequal mixture of light colored sodium plagioclase/quartz, and dark colored amphibole and biotite.

Appearance, like diorite, is often described as "salt and pepper" because of the mix. In this specimen some of the quartz grains can be seen as smooth light gray grains scattered among the white feldspars. Every effort will be made to make sure that the Rosetta Stone replicas to be manufactured will resemble this type of Granodiorite rock.

Rosetta Stone Replicas will be hollow, so that the shipping cost will be minimal. Once the replica arrives at the destination, sand can be poured into the replica by unscrewing a lid located on the bottom. The sand will give the replica the heft and feel of a large stone. The replica will be constructed with extra reinforcement internally to handle the weight of the sand.

Feel free to email us with your thoughts and questions. We look forward to providing you a full-size 3-D museum-quality replica of the Rosetta Stone. Satisfaction guaranteed. Period. Feel free to take a look at the other Rosetta Stone-related items in The Freeman Institute® collection.

We are currently working on pricing. These museum-quality replicas will be expensive. They are difficult to manufacture. The shipping and handling cost will be borne by the buyer. The cost of S&H will be determined by the final destination to which the replica will be shipped and the cheapest way to ship via a credible shipper.

__________________________________________________

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE FREEMAN INSTITUTE® FOUNDATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Main Purpose For Developing the Rosetta Stone Replicas

The Freeman Institute® owns a Black History collection of well over 2500 vintage documents and artifacts, with the oldest piece dated 1553. The goal is to develop Black History galleries, connecting the African American experience with galleries in major U.S. cities and in selected cities internationally (parts of Canada, Europe, Africa and South America and every Caribbean country) -- designed to educate and inspire this generation. Each gallery will have a wall dedicated to some of the White abolitionists who sacrificed their time...and some their lives for the anti-slavery cause. This vision also includes the development of replicas of the Rosetta Stone to be exhibited in every gallery. Dr. Joel Freeman and The Freeman Institute® Foundation are supervising the creation of a mold and the fabrication of replicas.
Why? A full-size 3-D facsimile of the Rosetta Stone in each gallery provides a literal touchstone to ancient times -- reminding people that Egypt is in Africa...not the Middle East -- giving an opportunity to showcase the accomplishments of other ancient African Kingdoms (Ghanian, Songehay, Great Zimbabwe, Malian, etc.). The exhibition of the replica also provides a context for African American history, reminding visitors that ancient African History didn't start with slavery. Black History started with inventiveness, creativity, royalty, perseverance and so much more...providing a context for all of the documents and artifacts exhibiting the part African Americans played in the past four centuries of American history.

Rosetta Stone in Situ
1895 image

f
Please contact us if you represent a corporation looking for sponsorship
opportunities (title or otherwise) of such an educational/inspirational project.
f

i

Rosetta Stone Replicas

Box 305, Gambrills, Maryland 21054
TEL 410.991.9718 FAX 410.729.0353
EMAIL