1861-O Half Dollar Question - How to identify a CSA?

jmcu12

I am a little confused about this issue and I am hoping that someone here can clear it up.

1. The red book mentions that you can tell a CSA Half Dollar by looking at the obverse and there should be a die crack going from liberty's nose up to the denticles above her head.

2. PCGS (coinfacts) says that there is no way to tell a CSA Half from another half minted by the Union.


Who is correct?

Elcontador

At first, the 1861 O Halves were minted when Louisiana was part of the United States. The bulk of them were minted when Louisiana had seceded (sp?) but had not yet joined the Confederacy. The last group was made after the state of LA joined the Confederacy.

There were no new dies supplied once LA seceded, so they basically used them long past when they normally would have thrown them out.
For this reason, I think the Redbook is correct.

neocirrhitus

PCGS is lumping the 1,240,000 struck by the State of Louisiana, with the 962,633 that were struck by the Confederates. You can't tell the difference between the 1.24 million struck by Louisiana and the 330,000 struck by the Union. I think it is generally accepted that the die-crack ones are from the 962,633 that were actually minted by the Confederates, not the Union or Louisiana. Hope this helps.

tjkillian

That is a big can of worms! I am now in the process of collecting 1861-O half dollars by die marriage. You need to hunt down a copy of the Gobrecht Journal, issue #94 from the Liberty Seated Coin Collector's Club. Randall E. Wiley, with lots of help, wrote a FANTASTIC, GREAT, FABULOUS article on the very subject of who/when minted which 1861-O half dollars. He writes that he CAN tell under whose authority (U.S.A., Louisiana, or C.S.A.) a coin was struck.

PM me for more information.

greghansen

Let me get this image I highjacked from Heritage a few years back posted...then I'll see if I saved any other notes.

O.K., I don't find any other notes other than the brief one I added to the image when I saved it. I don't really know anything about the variety and the crack doesn't show up that great in the image, but it is slightly visible. Maybe better ones on Heritage now. I don't pay much attention to this series.

Writersblock

Let me echo tjkillian's post. Until a couple years ago the die with the crack from the rim to the nose was the ONLY die we could say for sure was used by the Confederacy. (Because it was also used to strike the four pieces of the Confederate half dollar.) But with the examination of a couple of 1961-O hoards, plus the 1861-O's recovered on the SS Republic seated half specialist Randall Wiley has been able to identify 14 different die varieties for this coin, and to establish the emmision sequence of the varieties. From that, and the known mintages from each government, and the realitive appearance of each variety, he has been able to determine which government struck which die variety.

Along with Issue 94 of the Gobrecht Journal you should also get Issue 97. Ninety four is needed to identify the different varieties and 97 is needed for the latest word on who produced each variety. I'm not looking to collect all the varieties but I do want one made by the Confederacy. Since Obv die #5 with the crack to the nose is well known it tends to be more costly. SO I am looking for one struck from one of the other confederate dies. Preferably Obv #6 since it is very easy to recognize.

tjkillian

The last die marriage, #15 seems to be most common. I picked up a real loser of one on eBay a couple of months ago for $20.00 (way too much for a bent coin) and gave it to one of my reenacting buddies (she is 12 years old) and she thought it was the coolest knowing it was struck in May, 1861. If you go to Dick Osburn's site (http://www.dickosburn.com), he lists his 1861-Os by die marriage. Anthing but the first two (really rare ones) were NOT struck by the U.S.A.