Confederate States of America (1861-1863)

The Confederate States never put a coin into circulation. Two pieces were made for them in 1861, and everything else in this series was struck later from their dies or in imitation of them.

The cent came from the North. Early in 1861 a Philadelphia engraver, Robert Lovett Jr., cut dies for a one-cent piece with a head of Liberty and a wreath around 1 CENT and CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. He struck a few pieces in copper-nickel, about twelve by most accounts, and kept them and the dies rather than send them south. The original cent first appeared late in 1873. Dr. Edward Maris bought Lovett's coins and John W. Haseltine his dies, and in 1874 Haseltine restruck the cent in gold, silver and copper, after which the dies were defaced.

The half dollar came from New Orleans. The mint there passed to Louisiana when the state seceded and then to the Confederate States, and it kept striking regular 1861-O half dollars with federal dies. In April 1861 Treasury Secretary C. G. Memminger asked for a Confederate design. The local engraver A. H. M. Patterson cut one reverse die, and the coiners paired it with the regular obverse to strike four pieces before the work stopped. The chief coiner, B. F. Taylor, kept his piece and the die until 1879, when he sold them to J. W. Scott & Co. of New York.

Cent. Lovett's cent has a head of Liberty on the obverse and a wreath on the reverse. CoinWeek notes that the originals are struck with a medal turn and show Lovett's L clearly, while Haseltine's restrikes are softer and struck with a coin turn. The restrikes are in gold, silver and copper; a cent in any of those metals is a restrike, not an original.

Half dollar. The Confederate reverse shows a shield of seven stars and seven stripes under a liberty cap on a pole, between a cotton branch and another stalk, with CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA and HALF DOL. The original pairs it with a normal Seated Liberty obverse dated 1861. A Scott restrike has the same reverse on a host coin whose obverse was flattened in the striking. A Scott token is white metal with an inscription in place of Liberty.

Bashlow pieces. Robert Bashlow's cents of 1961 come from transfer dies taken from Lovett's defaced dies, and the defacing marks show on them; they exist in many metals, among them bronze, silver and red fiber. His half dollar pieces of 1962 copy Scott's token from new dies, in brass, bronze and silver.

Originals, 1861. The Lovett cent in copper-nickel (Breen-8005), graded by NGC both as Mint State and as proof, and the four half dollars with the Confederate reverse, which PCGS lists with the obverse die W-12.

Restrikes, 1874 and 1879. Haseltine's cents (Breen-8006 gold, 8007 silver, 8008 copper; the ANA gives 7, 12 and 55 struck) and Scott's 500 half dollar restrikes and 500 tokens, all from the original dies.

Copies, 1961 and 1962. Bashlow's cents from transfer dies and his half dollar pieces from new dies. Reported figures for each metal differ from one account to another, so none is given here. A white metal piece of 1947 with a Confederate seal, which PCGS lists as a Boston token, is not connected with the 1861 dies.

The regular 1861-O half dollars, including those struck while the mint was under Confederate control, are listed in the Seated Liberty half dollar series.

The original cents are copper-nickel; Haseltine's restrikes are gold, silver and copper. The original half dollars are struck on regular .900 silver planchets, and the Scott restrikes on 1861 half dollars whose reverses had been shaved off. The Scott tokens are white metal. Bashlow's cents were struck in metals from aluminum, lead, tin and zinc to bronze, brass, nickel, silver and gold, and in red fiber; his half dollar pieces in silver, bronze and goldine, a brass alloy.