1861 (O) Seated Liberty Half Dollar - Brunk W-143 Waltons Bitters

Coin Details

Description

This 1861 (O) Seated Liberty Half Dollar bears a merchant counterstamp attributed to Waltons Bitters, cataloged as Brunk W-143. Counterstamps were applied to circulating coins by merchants, silversmiths, and tradesmen as a form of portable advertising — the business card of early America. The Waltons Bitters stamp was punched into the coin after it left the Mint, repurposing it as a merchant advertising piece. The host coin is a 1861 dollar from the Seated Liberty Half Dollars 1839-1891 series. The host coin's original mintage was 1.7 million, though counterstamped examples represent only a tiny fraction of survivors. Struck in 89.2% silver, 10.8% copper. Cataloged as PCGS #912258. Counterstamped coins documented in Gregory G. Brunk's "American and Canadian Countermarked Coins" sit at the intersection of numismatics and Americana — each piece is a primary-source historical document of early American commerce. The counterstamp adds a unique layer of provenance that distinguishes this coin from all other examples of its type.