Original copperplate
Shows the coast of southern Morocco, the Sahara with the Canary Islands. Copperplates that had been used in the production of early maps are of the greatest rarity and few of any period are known to have survived. Because of the value of copper and its malleability, plates would often have their original engravings beaten out and then re-used for other projects.
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A plate could also be melted down and the copper used for another purpose. Therefore, only a special set of circumstances would result in the survival of a copperplate. In one of the few other instances of a surviving plate, its reverse side had been used for an oil painting. (See Imago Mundi,No.42,pp.94-98.).