Every heard of or seen this half dollar before?

[TheRandyMan]

Had a friend of mine send me this with the remark that "Wouldn't it be nice to find one of the restrikes?"

Yer darn tootin it would be nice! I had never even heard of these before he sent me the info and pictures...



C.S.A. 50 Cents Coin
In early 1861, the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, authorized production of a Confederate Half Dollar. This was accomplished by taking ordinary (USA) Half Dollars with the Liberity Sitting on the obverse, removing the reverse motif, and adding a shield with seven stars (only 7 states had joined by that time) and adding the words "CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA -- HALF DOLLAR --. Only four were ever made. The obverse shows a seated woman looking to her right with 13 stars around her and "1861" underneath. The coin shown here is not real but a reproduction. A real coin looks somewhat like this but with some difference in the details especially around the bow on the reverse.
In 1879, a man by the name of Scott came into possesion of the original reverse die. He then obtained 500 1861 USA half dollars and removed the reverses and stamped them with the Confederate die. He made 500 of these "restrikes". The restrike can be identified by an imperfection in the word AMERICA between the letters E and R. The obverse is also slightely flattened.

He then made 500 more coins but then used his own obverse which consisted only of words. The beginning words are: "4 ORIGINALS STRUCK BY ORDER OF C.S.A. IN NEW ORLEANS 1861 .......

Coin Mintage Value in MS-65
Original 4 UNKNOWN
Restrike 500 $10,000.00
Scott Obverse 500 $7,500.00

Now I need to research what town and county this guy lived in and find out where he hung out...might have dropped one at the country fair or something...

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[NaturalJWL]

http://greensboro.craigslist.org/clt/2477205384.html

I saw this the other day, but it does say replica.

One of the original restrikes would be GREAT !!!

[NaturalJWL]

At least they should have done them solid silver, instead of plated.

[thrillathahunt]

I found one in a tot lot a couple years ago. It clearly says "copy" on the reverse, and appears to be made out of nickel.