A Look at Confederate States Coin Restrikes

PCGS_SocialMedia

Coin production in the Confederate States occurred during a relatively brief period of just a few months, yet it yielded an eclectic array of numismatic curiosities that enjoy a robust crossover market reaching both the coin hobby and the wide-ranging realm of Civil War memorabilia.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, numismatic interest in the coinage of the confederacy began growing. There were certainly plenty of private Confederate tokens issued during the Civil War, with estimates suggesting more than 50 million pieces representing some 10,000 designs cumulatively. There are several restrikes out there, though the collector must be wary of pieces minted after the Civil War and billed as “restrikes” but are rather fantasy pieces – not bona fide restrikes of actual Confederate coins.

Full article: https://www.pcgs.com/news/confederate-states-coin-restrikes

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291fifth

Some researchers consider the so-called Confederate Cent to be a post-war fantasy created at the behest of a numismatic promoter in the 1870's.

PerryHall

@PCGS_SocialMedia said:

After the Civil War ended in 1865, numismatic interest in the coinage of the confederacy began >growing. There were certainly plenty of private Confederate tokens issued during the Civil War, with >estimates suggesting more than 50 million pieces representing some 10,000 designs cumulatively.

>

I never realized that there were so many Confederate tokens issued in the south.

291fifth

@PerryHall said:

@PCGS_SocialMedia said:

After the Civil War ended in 1865, numismatic interest in the coinage of the confederacy began >growing. There were certainly plenty of private Confederate tokens issued during the Civil War, with >estimates suggesting more than 50 million pieces representing some 10,000 designs cumulatively.

>

I never realized that there were so many Confederate tokens issued in the south.

There weren't. Most of the issues were union civil war tokens.

PerryHall

@291fifth said:

@PerryHall said:

@PCGS_SocialMedia said:

After the Civil War ended in 1865, numismatic interest in the coinage of the confederacy began >growing. There were certainly plenty of private Confederate tokens issued during the Civil War, with >estimates suggesting more than 50 million pieces representing some 10,000 designs cumulatively.

>

I never realized that there were so many Confederate tokens issued in the south.

There weren't. Most of the issues were union civil war tokens.

I knew this. He must have meant all Civil War tokens but that sure isn't what he said.

Smudge

@PerryHall said:

@PCGS_SocialMedia said:

After the Civil War ended in 1865, numismatic interest in the coinage of the confederacy began >growing. There were certainly plenty of private Confederate tokens issued during the Civil War, with >estimates suggesting more than 50 million pieces representing some 10,000 designs cumulatively.

>

I never realized that there were so many Confederate tokens issued in the south.

I’ve heard of Wealth of the South and that’s about it.

SaorAlba

@Smudge said:

@PerryHall said:

@PCGS_SocialMedia said:

After the Civil War ended in 1865, numismatic interest in the coinage of the confederacy began >growing. There were certainly plenty of private Confederate tokens issued during the Civil War, with >estimates suggesting more than 50 million pieces representing some 10,000 designs cumulatively.

>

I never realized that there were so many Confederate tokens issued in the south.

I’ve heard of Wealth of the South and that’s about it.

There were a couple of token issuers in Alabama early in the war, and there is also the so called Beauregard Dime which was actually a medallet produced in Paris and sold in the south. But other than that, there is not much coin or token wise from the South during the war.

There has been a lot of crap produced from the 1940's and especially the 1960s on up catering to a particular market.

PerryHall

Perhaps the OP needs to correct this glaring error in his post.

SaorAlba

Oughtta put this baby on the 'Bay for a bazillion dollars...

JBK

@PCGS_SocialMedia said:
There were certainly plenty of private Confederate tokens issued during the Civil War, with estimates suggesting more than 50 million pieces representing some 10,000 designs cumulatively.

Is this the statement you guys are disputing?

This statement certainly does not square with everything I always understood about the situation in the South. I know that the Confederacy was awash in paper money but I was under the impression that coins of any kind were scarce.

Crypto

@291fifth said:
Some researchers consider the so-called Confederate Cent to be a post-war fantasy created at the behest of a numismatic promoter in the 1870's.

I don’t actually know a researcher who thinks they are from the actual Civil War with any tangible connection to the confederate gov

Zoins

I don't know there's any evidence either way regarding the Confederate Cents. They are like the 1913 Barber nickels in that no one knows their true origins. Of course, both the Confederate Cents and 1913 Barber nickels have strong collector following.

Crypto

@Zoins said:
I don't know there's any evidence either way regarding the Confederate Cents. They are like the 1913 Barber nickels in that no one knows their true origins. Of course, both the Confederate Cents and 1913 Barber nickels have strong collector following.

I don’t buy the “no one knows their true origins” like there are people on both sides with compelling facts. Some tokens were discovered a decade after the war and were sold with dream of clandestine operates traveling north to commission pennies. It’s all a joke but that doesn’t mean it could go either way with reasonable people understanding both and appreciating the unknown.

These are BS and there are people who like BS and some people who will pay big money for BS. But it is BS.

We even know who made the BS (in the north mind you) and we know he was a petty criminal drunk. It is people who readily believe in magic and like a story over things like logic, provenance or research. You bring the claim, you bring the proof. That is how the civilized world should work.

Jimnight

I never heard of a Confederate cent until now.

Zoins

@Crypto said:

@Zoins said:
I don't know there's any evidence either way regarding the Confederate Cents. They are like the 1913 Barber nickels in that no one knows their true origins. Of course, both the Confederate Cents and 1913 Barber nickels have strong collector following.

I don’t buy the “no one knows their true origins” like there are people on both sides with compelling facts. Some tokens were discovered a decade after the war and were sold with dream of clandestine operates traveling north to commission pennies. It’s all a joke but that doesn’t mean it could go either way with reasonable people understanding both and appreciating the unknown.

These are BS and there are people who like BS and some people who will pay big money for BS. But it is BS.

We even know who made the BS (in the north mind you) and we know he was a petty criminal drunk. It is people who readily believe in magic and like a story over things like logic, provenance or research. You bring the claim, you bring the proof. That is how the civilized world should work.

It appears many people are okay with the ambiguous nature of these, similar to the 1913 Barber nickels and more recently the Continental Dollars.

Your opinion has been well publicized on these forums over the years.

I'm not sure why you're so passionate about this.

Zoins

@Jimnight said:
I never heard of a Confederate cent until now.

CoinFacts has some info on these here:

https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1861-1c-csa-original/340404

Here's Bob Simpson's original:

https://www.pcgs.com/cert/06666061

In keeping with the spirit of the article, here's a restrike:

CoinFacts:

https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1861-1c-csa-restrike-copper-bn/340405

Bob Simpson's restrike:

ricko

Other than threads here on the forum, I have not followed, nor collected, Civil War tokens or coins. Not sure why, since it is a historical period that has always interested me. I like the looks of the cent. Cheers, RickO

Crypto

@Zoins said:

@Crypto said:

@Zoins said:
I don't know there's any evidence either way regarding the Confederate Cents. They are like the 1913 Barber nickels in that no one knows their true origins. Of course, both the Confederate Cents and 1913 Barber nickels have strong collector following.

I don’t buy the “no one knows their true origins” like there are people on both sides with compelling facts. Some tokens were discovered a decade after the war and were sold with dream of clandestine operates traveling north to commission pennies. It’s all a joke but that doesn’t mean it could go either way with reasonable people understanding both and appreciating the unknown.

These are BS and there are people who like BS and some people who will pay big money for BS. But it is BS.

We even know who made the BS (in the north mind you) and we know he was a petty criminal drunk. It is people who readily believe in magic and like a story over things like logic, provenance or research. You bring the claim, you bring the proof. That is how the civilized world should work.

It appears many people are okay with the ambiguous nature of these, similar to the 1913 Barber nickels and more recently the Continental Dollars.

Your opinion has been well publicized on these forums over the years.

I'm not sure why you're so passionate about this.

Placated collectors ok with the ambiguity has no bearing on truth facts or evidence . Doesn’t matter how many people want something to be true, that is why there is still no Santa. The 1913 nickels were mint made, while shady they are a false equivalency to tokens made in a workshop by people not connected to a mint, a government or a legal denomination. Comparing a random pieces of copper to a mint rarities is silly. I don’t know why people defend the token. One are clandestine mint products the others are novelties made to profit off of people.

This is the problem with stuff like D Carr products. People will gloss over the facts to upsell rubes and then the rubes hold on to the myth because it is tied to their value and then after 100 years we have rube history and not the truth. Cool tribute tokens made to sell to nostalgic artifact tourist a decade after the fact by a coin dealer but nothing more. Then multiple reissues also made by dealers to sell again. I object to the term confederate cents because there is no such thing at any level

Zoins

@Crypto said:

@Zoins said:

@Crypto said:

@Zoins said:
I don't know there's any evidence either way regarding the Confederate Cents. They are like the 1913 Barber nickels in that no one knows their true origins. Of course, both the Confederate Cents and 1913 Barber nickels have strong collector following.

I don’t buy the “no one knows their true origins” like there are people on both sides with compelling facts. Some tokens were discovered a decade after the war and were sold with dream of clandestine operates traveling north to commission pennies. It’s all a joke but that doesn’t mean it could go either way with reasonable people understanding both and appreciating the unknown.

These are BS and there are people who like BS and some people who will pay big money for BS. But it is BS.

We even know who made the BS (in the north mind you) and we know he was a petty criminal drunk. It is people who readily believe in magic and like a story over things like logic, provenance or research. You bring the claim, you bring the proof. That is how the civilized world should work.

It appears many people are okay with the ambiguous nature of these, similar to the 1913 Barber nickels and more recently the Continental Dollars.

Your opinion has been well publicized on these forums over the years.

I'm not sure why you're so passionate about this.

The nickels were mint made, while shady they are a false equivalency to tokens made in a workshop by people not connected to a mint, a government or a legal denomination. I don’t know why people defend them.

Quite a few people don't defend the 1913 Barber nickels and look down on them, but you seem to be okay with them. This is okay as everyone can have their own opinion.

This is the problem with stuff like D Carr products. People will gloss over the facts to upsell rubes and then the rubes hold on to the myth because it is tied to their value and then after 100 years we have rube history and not the truth. Cool tribute tokens made to sell to nostalgic artifact tourist a decade after the fact by a coin dealer but nothing more. Then multiple reissues also made by dealers to sell again.

It's okay to not like the fantasy date over struck coins, but are the facts actually glossed over with Dan's products? They are worth much more by being sold as Dan's products and people even counterfeit his products. Look at what one of Dan's 1964 Peace Dollars sells for vs. one not attributed to Dan.

I object to the term confederate cents because there is no such thing at any level

There appears to be according to PCGS and the Red Book.

You may want to bring it up with @PCGS_SocialMedia and Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez who wrote the linked article in the OP.

Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez wrote:

Accounts further continue that Lovett, who carried at least one of these 1861 Confederate Cents (patterns) in his pocket, inadvertently spent one of them at a bar in west Philadelphia around 1873. The odd coin caught the eye of the bartender, who contacted prominent coin collector Dr. Edwin Maris. In short order, the 1861 Confederate Cents came to the attention of notable numismatists J. Colvin Randall and Capt. John W. Haseltine, the latter of whom reportedly managed to buy at least 10 of the other 1861 Confederate Cent patterns from Lovett as well as the dies.

Crypto

First of all I don’t look down to any collectible. I collect post cards from amusement parks, I don’t have the high ground. I look down on people who believe magic, lies, fancy stories and then try to spread them saying “Since we don’t know let me put a fairy tall in here and tell it as fact” especially when they benefit from the lies. Anybody who says those tokens have anything to do with the confederacy is full of the smelliest stuff on earth. Anybody who tells the story as fact is full of it too. That goes for auction houses too

I can’t stop people from believing in what ever they want to believe in. But I have no problem pointing out they are wrong when they say it. And when they try to measure their statements to not look like idiots. That is when I pounce even harder because that lets me know that deep down they know what’s up.

Zoins

@Crypto said:
First of all I don’t look down to any collectible. I collect post cards from amusement parks, I don’t have the high ground. I look down on people who believe magic, lies, fancy stories and then try to spread them saying “Since we don’t know let me put a fairy tall in here and tell it as fact” especially when they benefit from the lies. Anybody who says those tokens have anything to do with the confederacy is full of the smelliest stuff on earth. Anybody who tells the story as fact is full of it too

Do you include the author of this PCGS article for writing it and @PCGS_SocialMedia for posting it here?

I can’t stop people from believing in what ever they want to believe in. But I have no problem pointing out they are wrong when they say it. And when they try to measure their statements to not look like idiots. That is when I pounce even harder because that lets me know that deep down they know what’s up.

Do you think the author of the PCGS article referencing the Confederate Cent or the authors of the Red Book that included the Confederate Cent are idiots?

JBK

@Crypto said:
First of all I don’t look down to any collectible. I collect post cards from amusement parks, I don’t have the high ground. I look down on people who believe magic, lies, fancy stories and then try to spread them saying “Since we don’t know let me put a fairy tall in here and tell it as fact” especially when they benefit from the lies. Anybody who says those tokens have anything to do with the confederacy is full of the smelliest stuff on earth. Anybody who tells the story as fact is full of it too. That goes for auction houses too

I can’t stop people from believing in what ever they want to believe in. But I have no problem pointing out they are wrong when they say it. And when they try to measure their statements to not look like idiots. That is when I pounce even harder because that lets me know that deep down they know what’s up.

What about the Continental Dollars?

SeattleSlammer

Is this all going to end in @Crypto reporting the mod to another mod ?

SeattleSlammer

These gold restrikes are especially cool.

https://coinweek.com/auctions-news/heritage-auctions-gold-confederate-cents-restrike/