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Confederate Half Dollar 150 years old.
EagleEye
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From the ANS:
ANS, Ex:Saltus, J. Sanford x Elder, T.L. sale of 3.11.1910 lot # 552; J. W. Scott; Ebenezer Locke Mason, Jr.; Dr. B. F. Taylor (according to Breen)
From Q. David Bowers from here.
The 1861 Confederate States of America half dollar has an interesting history. In February of that year the state of Louisiana turned over to the Confederate States of America the United States Mint at New Orleans which had come under control of the South. Dr. B. F. Taylor, chief coiner of the Confederate States of America Mint, related on April 7, 1879, the story of the Confederate half dollar coinage in response to a request made by Marcus J. Wright of the War Department in Washington:
Your favor requesting a statement of the history of the New Orleans Mint, in reference to the coinage under the Confederate Government, is received. That institution was turned over by the state of Louisiana, the last of February 1861, to the Confederate States of America, the old officers being retained and confirmed by the government; William A. Elmore, superintendent; A. J. Guyrot, treasurer; M. F. Bonzano, M.D., melter and refiner; and Howard Millspaugh, assayer. In the month of April orders were issued by Mr. Memminger, secretary of the Treasury, to the effect that designs for half dollars should be submitted to him for approval. Among several sent, the one approved bore on the obverse of the coin a representation of the Goddess of Liberty, surrounded by 13 stars, denoting the 13 states from which the Confederacy sprung, and on the lower rim the figures 1861. On the reverse there is a shield with seven stars, representing the seceding states; above the shield is a Liberty cap, and entwined around it stalks of sugar cane and cotton, "Confederate States of America." The dies were engraved by A. H. M. Patterson, engraver and die sinker, who is now living in Commercial Place. They were prepared for the coining press by Conrad Schmidt, foreman of the coining room (who is still living), from which four pieces only were struck. About this time an order came from the Secretary suspending operations on account of the difficulty of obtaining bullion, and the Mint was closed on April 30, 1861.
Of the four pieces mentioned, one was sent to the government, one presented to Professor Biddle of the University of Louisiana, one sent to Dr. E. Ames of New Orleans, the remaining one being retained by myself. Upon diligent inquiry I am unable to find but one piece besides my own, that being in the possession of a Confederate officer of this city, who transmitted it to his son as a souvenir of his father's in the Confederate cause . . .
As was true with the Confederate cent, the existence of the Confederate half dollar was unknown for many years after its coinage. It was not until 1879 that Dr. Taylor revealed that he owned a specimen. In April of that year Taylor sent his coin, together with the original reverse die, to E. Mason Jr., a Philadelphia coin dealer, with the instructions to tell the public of the coin's existence.
The die subsequently found its way to J. W. Scott & Co., coin and stamp dealers. David Proskey, a former employee of Scott, related how restrikes were made from the original die:
J. W. Scott bought the die of the reverse of the Confederate half dollar, together with the Proof specimen of the only known Confederate half dollar, at that time, from E. B. Mason, Jr., of Philadelphia. The United States Government had seized the obverse as its property, and could have seized both sides, as at the close of the war in 1865 the U.S. government became the heir of the Confederacy.
Scott decided to strike impressions from his die, and he sent out circulars offering silver restrikes at $2 each, agreeing to have only 500 pieces struck. Preparing for this issue, Scott purchased 500 United States half dollars of New Orleans mintage and had the reverses drilled off. Then for fear that the die would break, a steel collar was affixed, and 500 impressions in white metal were struck in order to be able to supply something should the die go to pieces, but the die held intact even after the silver pieces were struck. Each of the latter obverses (Liberty seated) was placed on a blank of soft brass and then struck on a screw press. This helped to keep the obverse from flattening. The writer supervised the process so that the workers kept no specimens for souvenirs. The die was then softened and cut across, so that no more could be struck from the perfect die. The die now reposes in the collection of the Louisiana Historical Society, the gift of Mr. J. Sanford Saltus. A couple of brass impressions exist showing the ridge across. These are now in the collection of Mr. Elliott Smith, New York City.
When all were struck Scott sent out circulars with the coins to the subscribers offering to pay 50c each over the subscription price for the return of any of the pieces, stating as a reason "oversubscription," which was untrue. It was doubtful if over 250 were sold, as Scott had a plentiful supply of them for over 30 years thereafter. He gradually raised the price to $15 each. The original Proof half dollar was several times placed in various auction sales, but always "bought in." Finally the writer sold it to Mr. J. Sanford Saltus for $3,000, who presented it to the American Numismatic Society.
Here is a restrike:
Here is a White metal piece:
It looks like the die rusted slightly by 1879 and was ground down a bit. The base of the cap is very light on the restrikes. Also the rust pit (mounds) by the ER in AMERICA is found on the restrikes.
ANS, Ex:Saltus, J. Sanford x Elder, T.L. sale of 3.11.1910 lot # 552; J. W. Scott; Ebenezer Locke Mason, Jr.; Dr. B. F. Taylor (according to Breen)
From Q. David Bowers from here.
The 1861 Confederate States of America half dollar has an interesting history. In February of that year the state of Louisiana turned over to the Confederate States of America the United States Mint at New Orleans which had come under control of the South. Dr. B. F. Taylor, chief coiner of the Confederate States of America Mint, related on April 7, 1879, the story of the Confederate half dollar coinage in response to a request made by Marcus J. Wright of the War Department in Washington:
Your favor requesting a statement of the history of the New Orleans Mint, in reference to the coinage under the Confederate Government, is received. That institution was turned over by the state of Louisiana, the last of February 1861, to the Confederate States of America, the old officers being retained and confirmed by the government; William A. Elmore, superintendent; A. J. Guyrot, treasurer; M. F. Bonzano, M.D., melter and refiner; and Howard Millspaugh, assayer. In the month of April orders were issued by Mr. Memminger, secretary of the Treasury, to the effect that designs for half dollars should be submitted to him for approval. Among several sent, the one approved bore on the obverse of the coin a representation of the Goddess of Liberty, surrounded by 13 stars, denoting the 13 states from which the Confederacy sprung, and on the lower rim the figures 1861. On the reverse there is a shield with seven stars, representing the seceding states; above the shield is a Liberty cap, and entwined around it stalks of sugar cane and cotton, "Confederate States of America." The dies were engraved by A. H. M. Patterson, engraver and die sinker, who is now living in Commercial Place. They were prepared for the coining press by Conrad Schmidt, foreman of the coining room (who is still living), from which four pieces only were struck. About this time an order came from the Secretary suspending operations on account of the difficulty of obtaining bullion, and the Mint was closed on April 30, 1861.
Of the four pieces mentioned, one was sent to the government, one presented to Professor Biddle of the University of Louisiana, one sent to Dr. E. Ames of New Orleans, the remaining one being retained by myself. Upon diligent inquiry I am unable to find but one piece besides my own, that being in the possession of a Confederate officer of this city, who transmitted it to his son as a souvenir of his father's in the Confederate cause . . .
As was true with the Confederate cent, the existence of the Confederate half dollar was unknown for many years after its coinage. It was not until 1879 that Dr. Taylor revealed that he owned a specimen. In April of that year Taylor sent his coin, together with the original reverse die, to E. Mason Jr., a Philadelphia coin dealer, with the instructions to tell the public of the coin's existence.
The die subsequently found its way to J. W. Scott & Co., coin and stamp dealers. David Proskey, a former employee of Scott, related how restrikes were made from the original die:
J. W. Scott bought the die of the reverse of the Confederate half dollar, together with the Proof specimen of the only known Confederate half dollar, at that time, from E. B. Mason, Jr., of Philadelphia. The United States Government had seized the obverse as its property, and could have seized both sides, as at the close of the war in 1865 the U.S. government became the heir of the Confederacy.
Scott decided to strike impressions from his die, and he sent out circulars offering silver restrikes at $2 each, agreeing to have only 500 pieces struck. Preparing for this issue, Scott purchased 500 United States half dollars of New Orleans mintage and had the reverses drilled off. Then for fear that the die would break, a steel collar was affixed, and 500 impressions in white metal were struck in order to be able to supply something should the die go to pieces, but the die held intact even after the silver pieces were struck. Each of the latter obverses (Liberty seated) was placed on a blank of soft brass and then struck on a screw press. This helped to keep the obverse from flattening. The writer supervised the process so that the workers kept no specimens for souvenirs. The die was then softened and cut across, so that no more could be struck from the perfect die. The die now reposes in the collection of the Louisiana Historical Society, the gift of Mr. J. Sanford Saltus. A couple of brass impressions exist showing the ridge across. These are now in the collection of Mr. Elliott Smith, New York City.
When all were struck Scott sent out circulars with the coins to the subscribers offering to pay 50c each over the subscription price for the return of any of the pieces, stating as a reason "oversubscription," which was untrue. It was doubtful if over 250 were sold, as Scott had a plentiful supply of them for over 30 years thereafter. He gradually raised the price to $15 each. The original Proof half dollar was several times placed in various auction sales, but always "bought in." Finally the writer sold it to Mr. J. Sanford Saltus for $3,000, who presented it to the American Numismatic Society.
Here is a restrike:
Here is a White metal piece:
It looks like the die rusted slightly by 1879 and was ground down a bit. The base of the cap is very light on the restrikes. Also the rust pit (mounds) by the ER in AMERICA is found on the restrikes.
Rick Snow, Eagle Eye Rare Coins, Inc.Check out my new web site:
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Comments
good read, thank you for taking the time to post it.
In the words of Sam Spade, "The stuff dreams are made of."
Ron
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
<< <i>Heres a modern replica:
COPY is well hidden in the design. It took me awhile to find it.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
<< <i>Thanks for the post and good read!
THE CONFEDERATE STATES TREASURY DEPARTMENT:SIXTEEN COINS AND A FEW HUNDRED DOLLARS Of STAMPED BULLIONVERSUS 1.5 BILLIONS OF PAPER DOLLARS
By
John J. Ford, Jr.
From April 2, 1861, when 607 sheets of newly printed Confederate Treasury notes arrived at Montgomery, Alabama, until February 20, 1865, when Sherman’s cannon forced a hasty evacuation of the Treasury Note Bureau from Columbia, South Carolina, the central government of the Confederacy issued some $1,554,087,354 in paper currency. Over the years, Confederate paper money has been well popularized, mainly through the appearance of replicas and facsimiles. Imitation Southern notes bearing elaborate advertisements on their backs were commonplace for fifty years after Sumter. The General Mills promotion, circa 1954-55, in which packages of Cheerios contained well-made reproductions of Confederate $1 to $1000 bills, renewed a (pre-centennial) interest in CSA paper, as did a new crop of copies offered as play money. Genuine Confederate notes, long common enough to be familiar to most curio dealers and all numismatists, were brought home by returning Union veterans in quantity, and hoards continued to turn up for a great many years after the war.
However, as well known as the paper currency of the Confederacy might be, few have heard of the brief and pathetic attempt at a coinage by the South. Even collectors of rare coins, a small but energetic fraternity during and just after the Great Rebellion, did not know until fully fourteen years after Appomattox that the Confederacy had ever issued any official coins. The whole story of the CSA’s four sample half-dollars and twelve experimental cents has never been told, and some details of it may never be known. We do know that several events, seemingly trivial at the time, had the result that a great people claiming national independence, strength of arm and right of principle” left a metallic inheritance so small as only barely to escape oblivion.
In 1835-6, owing to extensive mining of gold and silver in the South, the federal government established branch mints at New Orleans, Louisiana, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dahlonega, Georgia. Coinage operations began in 1836 at all three locations; gold and silver at the first-named, gold only at the others. At the Secession Convention held in New Orleans in December 1860, the authorities resolved to “take in trust” the branch mint in that city. From January 1 to 25, 1861, the mint continued to turn out half dollars and double eagles or $20 gold pieces for the United States. About January 26 the state officials appeared at the Mint and officially notified the Mint personnel of the action of the Secession Convention. That day the mint officials renounced their allegiance to the North and were sworn in as officers under the flags of the CSA and the State of Louisiana. They included W.A. Elmore, Superintendent; Dr. B.F. Taylor, Chief Coiner; A.J. Guirot, Treasurer; Dr. M.F. Bonzano, Melter and Refiner; H. Milispaugh, Assayer; and Conrad Schmidt, foreman of the coining room. Prior to this transfer of allegiance, the regular U.S. double eagle and half dollar dies (made at the parent mint at Philadelphia) had been used to strike 5,000 twenties and 330,000 half dollars; but over three million dollars in bullion remained in the custody of the mint, and thereafter the New Orleans establishment made some 12,741 twenties and2,202,633 half dollars from the same dies. All these coins, though struck under Confederate authority, still bore the inscriptions and devices of the United States; all bore the date 1861 and the mint letter ‘O’, both those made before and after the seizure of the mint. These “normal” operations continued until April 30, 1861, when (as a result of an order from the Confederate Treasury Department) the mint shutdown. Meanwhile, the mints at Charlotte and Dahlonega had likewise been turned over to Confederate authorities, continuing to strike gold five-dollar and one-dollar pieces from regular United States dies; these, also dated 1861, bore mint letters ‘C’ and ‘D’.
As all Confederate officialdom recognized, a prime evidence of a nation’s sovereignty is its issue of coinage. The situation just described was anomalous: a nation at war issuing coinage bearing the devices and inscriptions of its enemy. Accordingly, on March 6, 1861, New Orleans Mint Superintendent Elmore wrote C.G. Memminger, Confederate secretary of the Treasury: “When the Government of the Confederate States assumes active control over the operations of this institution, I assume that it will require new dies, with new devices and inscriptions. To procure them will take time. Would it not be well to commence preparations for the new state of things?” Memminger, a shrewdly conservative German lawyer of Charleston, replied: I wish you would see some of the persons in New Orleans, who deal in engravings or designing, and procure some designs from them for the various coins, and send them here immediately. I would suggest to them to design something new and appropriate to the South, leaving to the North the Eagle and its counterpart.” Elmore immediately obtained several designs for a proposed new coinage, among them a model from Lloyd Glover of the National Bank Note Company in New York, the same firm that printed the first issue of Confederate paper currency. These designs were all sent to the Secretary at Montgomery, one shipment forwarded by Adams Express on April 22, another, a drawing for a rebel $20coin, prepared by the New Orleans architects Gallier and Esterbrook, being forwarded April 29, 1861.Meanwhile a local die sinker named A.H.M. Patterson appeared on the scene and submitted a design for ahalf dollar reverse die (to be combined with the regular Liberty Seated obverse), which was immediately accepted. Dr. Taylor, the Chief Coiner, later wrote that all the mint officers, himself included, were present in mid-April, 1861, when four (and four only) specimens were struck from
Patterson’s new die and a regular 1861 obverse die on a hand screw press. Taylor testified that one of the pieces went to President Jefferson Davis, one to Prof. Riddell of the University of Louisiana, and one to Dr. E. Ames, prominent New Orleans physician; the Coiner himself kept the fourth. Patterson’s design was well received by all concerned. However, after the fastidious hand striking off our impressions, coinage of the new Confederate half dollars was suspended. For well over a century col-lectors and historians have erroneously attributed this suspension to a lack of bullion. The real explanation appears in the letter of April 12, 1861 from Memminger to Superintendent Elmore, which called a halt to the arrangements being made to procure designs and samples for a Confederate coinage. Memminger, cautious as always, explained that since hostilities had intervened, “it is not probable that much coinage will be required, while it is certain that the Government will need the Bullion fund for its necessities. Under all circumstances, you had better reduce immediately your expenditures in every practicable way, and dismiss workmen so as to leave the establishment merely property taken care of until Congress may pass upon such plan as I may submit under the information to be derived from you.
”Elmore and Taylor did not inform Memminger of the successful striking of their splendid half dollars. They couldn’t! Twenty-one years later, in a little-known correspondence, Patterson DuBois, Assistant Assayer at the Philadelphia Mint, wrote: “Certainly, as the coinage of a pretended nation, it is unique; and not the least singular feature in this case, is that of the dies being so deeply sunk, that no press could have struck a piece from them at one blow. In this, as in other matters, the Confederacy got beyond its proper depth. They therefore were struck in a screw press, a slow process relegated in this fast age to medals and master-pieces.” In today’s vernacular, A.H.M. Patterson “goofed.” Dies for the (even then) high-speed steam presses installed in the New Orleans Mint had to be of a proper depth; if the designs and letters were cut or punched too deeply a normal blow in the press would produce only a faint or partly legible impression. Patterson knew his business. Was his error an honest mistake, or is it possible that his recently sworn allegiance to the Confederacy was merely perfunctory? We will never really know.
We do know that Dr. Bonzano, the Melter and Refiner, and to a lesser extent Dr. Taylor, were not fully exhilarated by the strains of “Dixie”. Early in May, 1861, at the suggestion of Dr. Bonzano, Dr. Taylor consented to the defacement of all the U.S. dies on hand (the half dollar obverses included), which operation, witnessed by only these two officers, was speedily accomplished in secrecy. Dr. Bonzano retained possession of the defaced U.S. dies, while Dr. Taylor pocketed Patterson’s still intact Confederate half dollar reverse. After federal troops occupied New Orleans a year later, Dr. Bonzano was conveniently select-ed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase to take charge of the Mint.
When the New Orleans Mint was originally “taken in trust,” the bullion (gold and silver ingots, strips, planchets and coins), together with the Bullion Fund (money used to pay off depositors of gold and silver bullion), remained in mint custody. While Memminger certainly had good use for the more than$3,000,000, it stayed in the mint vaults. The mint officers, even after Memminger’s order of May 1861suspending operations, did little to suggest its movement to Montgomery or Richmond, where it could have been a very potent shot in the arm for the Confederacy. The mint’s treasurer, Guirot, having paid off all the depositors, retained possession of the remaining uncoined gold and silver until the investment of the city by Union troops under General Butler in April 1862. At that time, according to Dr. Bonzano two decades later, “the bulk of the bullion, amounting with the money of the sub-treasury, to nearly one million dollars, was carried up the Mississippi on the steamer Star of the West, accompanied by the Treasurer and many other officials, who (wisely) thought it was time to leave.
The four half dollars that were struck can commence a train of thought based on a record of possibilities and impossibilities, success and failure, hopes alive and dead. Didn’t the Southern Confederacy have a live mint and the means to feed it and keep it active? Why, with all the intact enginery of coinage, the ready dies and skill available to cut new ones, the vaults stocked with bullion, was there an issue of only four coins? The facts speak for themselves.
As a story, the history of the twelve sample cents made for the Confederacy is comparatively simple; a story based on fear and on a fondness for the bottle. It begins with a Philadelphia die sinker, formerly from New York, named Robert Lovett, Jr. Mr. Lovett was one of three brothers, all of whom professed to be expert engravers. In 1860, Lovett designed and struck a small advertising token (or “store card” as such pieces were then popularly called), the size of the newly issued copper-nickel Indian cent. The number issued was doubtless large, as specimens are easily found even today.
Lovett’s advertising venture evidently bore fruit, as his name repeatedly came to the attention of Bailey& Co., Philadelphia jewelers (later known as Bailey, Banks and Biddle). For this firm Lovett soon after designed and struck a medal known as the Japanese Embassy Medal. While documentary evidence is presently lacking, it may be that Elmore, acting on behalf of Secretary Memminger, contacted Bailey &Co., among several Northern firms in March 1861, seeking designs for a Confederate coinage. The officials of Bailey & Co. brought Lovett into the picture, and as one thing led to another, Lovett made dies for a pattern Confederate cent, borrowing the main design from his 1860 store card. The wreath on this, as on Patterson’s half dollar, consisted appropriately of cotton, sugar cane and tobacco, all good Southern natural resources. The coin also bore his initial L. He struck twelve specimens in a nickel alloy closely resembling that of the regular U.S. cent of the period (7/8 copper, 1/8 nickel).
By the time he had finished his task, war had begun, and Lovett found himself in a rather precarious position, having engraved dies and struck coins for the order of a government with whom the United States was now engaged in a life or death struggle. In Lovett’s own words, his wife became timid about his delivering the dies and the sample coins, for fear the federal authorities might arrest him for giving assistance to the enemy. In sheer panic, he hid the cents and buried the dies in his cellar. Thus ended a sound idea for minor coinage, which, had it reached the South, might have altered history.
Lovett’s Confederate cent might never have been discovered, if he had not been inebriated one cold winter’s night twelve years later. It seems that Lovett habitually carried one of them with him, perhaps as a sort of personal memento of what might have been his greatest achievement. On the evening in question, Lovett, confusing the coin with one of the regular copper-nickel cents struck 1857-64 and current long afterwards, inadvertently spent his Confederate pocket-piece in Captain Funston’s saloon on Chestnut Street, between 17th and 18th Streets in Philadelphia. Funston, realizing that the coin was “different”, sold it to T. Frank Carlin, a well-known local coin collector. Carlin, not sure what he had, visited CaptainJohn W. Haseltine, who operated one of the largest rare coin establishments of the day. Coincidentally, both Funston and Haseltine were former Union officers.
While Haseltine mulled over the peculiar coin that Carlin had shown him, Carlin displayed the piece to another collector, one J. Colvin Randall. Randall immediately checked what seemed a fantastic story with Captain Haseltine. They immediately identified the piece as Lovett’s work both because of the initial L on the reverse and because the head matched that on Lovett’s familiar 1860 token. Upon calling on Lovett, Captain Haseltine was surprised to hear him deny any knowledge of the coin or the dies. After numerous calls, all of them met by vigorous denials, Haseltine finally heard the true story when Lovett, “slightly in his cups” (as Haseltine put it years later), pulled out a drawer in one of his cabinets and exhibited a line of the little Confederate cents. Upon the same visit he was also induced to unearth the dies. Haseltine there-upon purchased the dies and the ten copper-nickel cents that the engraver still had left (he having lost another besides the one passed in change).
Little doubt exists that an actively circulated Confederate specie would have enhanced even to a limited degree, the South’s chance of success. Hard money, bearing the imprint of the Confederacy itself, would have had a great psychological effect on the Southerners. Perhaps, had Memminger not been overcautious, and had he ascertained the true picture at New Orleans, some two or three million more Confederate half dollars might have been struck from the bullion on hand, rather than returning to Union possession in 1862. Even Lovett’s attractive cents, lowly nickel as they were, would have added immeasurably to Southern morale.
While a CSA coinage did not exist as such, a limited number of gold and silver assay ingots were made, entirely for those situations where Confederate credit or “a promise to pay” meant either nothing or precious metal was required. Following the decision of Congress to close the mints as of June 1, 1861, intermittent pressure was put on Secretary Memminger to open that part of each mint referred to as the Assay Office, to assay what little gold was still being mined in the South. As an experiment, and at the appointed assayers’ own financial risk, Memminger had Congress authorize the opening of the Assay Offices at Charlotte, Dahlonega, and (for a limited time only) New Orleans. That the Dahlonega office, opened August 24, 1861, actually did business is testified to by an Assay Certificate dated a year later showing that a silver bar, weighing over 81 oz. and valued at $98.89, was the 213th. so handled. Ironically, the only real ingot extant is one of nearly pure gold, marked GEORGIA GOLD 1863 and T & Co., giving the denomination in dollars CSA, but obviously not a product of the Dahlonega Assay Office. Two years ago, the author managed to establish that “T & Co.” consisted of Isaac L. Todd, who worked at the parent mint in Philadelphia, 1833-38, was transferred to Dahlonega at that mint’s inception, as Assistant Assay-er, became Assayer in 1852 and retained that post until fired by Jefferson Davis in October 1861, nearly six months after the transfer to the Confederacy had taken place. Todd no doubt established himself as a free-lance assayer after his dismissal, as the only known piece of gold bearing the Confederate stamp so silently attests.
All four half dollars struck at New Orleans from Patterson’s die are known today. The specimen given President Davis was stolen by federal officers when they rifled his baggage during his imprisonment at Fortress Monroe, VA, immediately after the war.
The twelve sample Confederate cents are all located, as are the dies (long since defaced) made by Lovett. It is believed that the Confederate half dollar reverse die, cut by Patterson, now rests in the Louisiana Historical Society, New Orleans, in close proximity to its birthplace one hundred and twenty-nine years ago.
Sixteen coins and literally millions of Treasury notes make strange bedfellows indeed, but they are not the only intriguing parallel in the fantastic history of the Lost Cause.
Davis was given one of the four originals and he kept it throughout the war. If that means it was in his pocket throughout the war, who knows. After he was captured, the coin and a 1863 Davis Guards Medal were taken from him by Union troops. This happened in May, 1865.
Supposedly the same coin turned up in 1936 in the hands of Mark Bream of Pennsylvania. It was shown at a Numismatic Society meeting near Gettysburg. After that, it vanished again. The story told was that Mark Bream inherited the coin from his father and that his father had bought it from the very soldier that confiscated it from Jefferson Davis.
Next the coin showed up in 1961 at the New York Metropolitan Coin Convention. Ted Schnur, a local dealer, showed what he believed to be a restrike Confederate Half to John Ford, who was a partner in New Netherlands Coin Company at the time. Ford told Schnur that he had four restiikes already and didn't need a fifth. After some negotiation, Ford did buy the coin for $425. The price of a restrike at the time.
Low and behold it turns out that Ford bought an original Confederate Half! Not only that,but it was Jefferson Davis' pocket piece!
Two years later Schnur sued Ford claiming that Ford knew it was an original. Schnur had bought the coin for $75 from an Alice Clark. She may have been related to Bream, but that is not known for sure. Clark sued Schnur for him taking advantage of her. She later dropped her suit and combined her suit with Schnur against Ford.
In 1971, A settlement was made with Ford receiving 75% of the coin and Schnur and Clark receiving 25%. The parties arrived at a value for the coin and Ford paid them their share.
The coin sold in 2003 for $632,500.
Did Ford know what he had when it was first shown to him? No rust marks! Full weight! I bet he did.
Do you know how the Bashlow pieces fit into the story?
<< <i>Heres a modern replica: >>
Here's another replica in a NGC slab. Check out the COPY obverse:
not understanding any of that at all.
The political decision not to make the issue might be that the bullion was just as valuable as the coins. There was no material gain in making the coins. Perhaps they learned of General Scott's Anaconda plan - the blockade Southern ports and capture of New Orleans.
Here is the Jefferson Davis pocket piece:
Oh, I've been putting the images with the LIBERTY side on the left. The Confederate side is considered the obverse and the LIBERTY side is the reverse.
<< <i>Scott decided to strike impressions from his die, and he sent out circulars offering silver restrikes at $2 each, agreeing to have only 500 pieces struck. Preparing for this issue, Scott purchased 500 United States half dollars of New Orleans mintage and had the reverses drilled off. Then for fear that the die would break, a steel collar was affixed, and 500 impressions in white metal were struck in order to be able to supply something should the die go to pieces, but the die held intact even after the silver pieces were struck. Each of the latter obverses (Liberty seated) was placed on a blank of soft brass and then struck on a screw press. This helped to keep the obverse from flattening. The writer supervised the process so that the workers kept no specimens for souvenirs. The die was then softened and cut across, so that no more could be struck from the perfect die. The die now reposes in the collection of the Louisiana Historical Society, the gift of Mr. J. Sanford Saltus. >>
Regarding the subsequent Bashlow pieces, it seems like Bashlow's restrikes were made from transfer dies created by August C. Frank & Co. of Philadelphia. Were the Bashlow transfer dies created from the same original die John Scott used and ended up at the Louisiana Historical Society (LHS)? If so, was the LHS working with Bashlow and loaned him the die or did the die find its way to him through another means? Was the transfer die created to eliminate the cancellation cuts? And is the original die still at the LHS?
<< <i>Scott Stamp and Coin Co. was founded by John Walter Scott (2 Nov 1845 - 4 Jan 1919), an immigrant from England. In 1863, he dealt in stamps in an outdoor market in New York City and in June 1867, he published his first J.W. Scott & Co.'s Monthly Price List which evolved into the first Scott catalogue, A Descriptive Catalogue of America and Foreigh Postage Stamps published in 1868. Today the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue remains a reference to many stamp collectors with the postage stamps referenced by their 'Scott numbers'. [...] Because of his many accomplishments and contributions, John Walter Scott is known as the 'Father of American Philately' >>
How many times did he sit at his desk, looking at this coin, rubbing it between his thumb and fingers.....dreaming, and planning, what could, or WOULD, be.
thanks
Schnur sold the coin to Ford in May 1961, but it was Ford's sidekick, Gerow Paul Franklin who bought the coin from Ford at the same show. Ford thought it was a restrike. Since there was already a few of these in the New Netherland's inventory, Ford wasn't too concerned about the one that he just bought from Schnur.
Franklin, who hadn't owned one of these before, took it home, studied and weighed it, and found it to be more grains than the Scott restrikes. After telling Ford what it weighed, both men became convinced that it was one of the four lost originals.
Franklin sold the coin back to Ford the following year, for a substantial (but publicly unrecorded) amount. Shortly after this, on January 1, 1963, the Franklin family moved to Scottsdale, Az.
There's an electrotype floating around that was made in 1955, reportedly by an unamed New York jeweler that was a friend of Franklin's (possibly Peter Rosa). One of the originals was owned by Abe Kosoff at the time. At a coin show in Chicago during the first week of May, Ford asked Kosoff to "borrow" the coin for photography at the ANS, and that he would return it to Abe the following week at the show in New York.
Turns out that Ford reportedly had Franklin make a copy, and the copy was given to Kosoff. Kosoff not expecting anything didn't realize that Ford had fooled him with a phony.
Several weeks later, Ford gave back the original. Kosoff wanted Ford to destroy the electro, but Ford wouldn't do it. Ford & Kosoff didn't exactly see eye-to-eye.
I have the 2x2 envelope that Ford gave to Kosoff with the electro inside. When it was returned, Ford wrote, "Gave Kosoff big thrill". Yeah, right!
Lots of Ford stories will be in the Ford/Franklin Hoard book when it gets printed. Still waiting for Dave Bowers to finish his part.