Where can I get info on 1861-O Half Dollar Varieties?

Halfhunter06

I am trying to determine if my 1861-O Half was struck under the US government or the State of Louisiana. I already know its not one of the 3 CSA types. Where can i locate the info for these varieties? I know TPG services have identified these coins.

LindeDad

Not sure what "Coin Facts" has to say about this coin but might be worth checking out on the free month trial.
I don't know of any other in depth analize available online.

Halfhunter06

I tried CoinFacts, and didnt get very far. The Complete Guide to Liberty Half DOllars only details 4 varieties, but does state experts have identified all the types for the US and LA strikings. NGC has slabbed them in special sets as well with the US and LA flags on the label.

rhedden

The original Wiley-Bugert book on Seated Halves is posted on David Lawrence Rare Coin's website under the "Stella" section. I think it tells which 1861-O half die marriages were minted by the Confederacy.

DaveG

There was an article in The Gobrecht Journal in 2005 by Randy Wiley that gave detailed info on these varieties. If you don't know anyone who has a copy, you can probably get the ANA Library to photo-copy the article for you (there may be a fee involved).

You might ask on the discussion board of Gerry Fortin's seateddimevarieties website; someone there should have a copy and may be willing to share.

Also, Bill Bugert is doing a set of books on varieties of the Seated Halves; I don't know if he's published the one on New Orleans yet, though.



edited to add: The detailed info isn't in the W-B book, as it wasn't known until a fairly long time after the book was published.

COALPORTER

<< <i>I am trying to determine if my 1861-O Half was struck under the US government or the State of Louisiana. I already know its not one of the 3 CSA types. Where can i locate the info for these varieties? I know TPG services have identified these coins. >>



My understanding is there is no way to know.

Julian

Randy Wiley is the person to contact.

I had a hoard of over 200 of these and Randy was able to trace the marriages. He divided them and I am pretty sure can tell you which government issued a specific coin.

The Republic hoard had a number of these and he was mostly able to tell, even if they were not in good shape after being in the water.

Look for the article that he wrote about these.

rhedden

Here is a direct link to the exact page. It does identify specific varieties thought to be struck by the Confederacy.

1861-O varieties

DaveG

Here's a little more about the article on 1861-O halves:

In 2005, Randy Wiley published an article in The Gobrecht Journal (#94) that detailed the 14 known die marriages (and the CSA Reverse Variety) of 1861-O Seated Half Dollars. He stated that his research suggests that Die Marriages 1 - 3 were struck while the Mint was under US Government control, Die Marriages 4 - 8 were struck while the Mint was under the control of the State of Louisiana and Die Marriages 9 - 15 were struck while the Mint was under the control of the Confederacy. (He suggests that the attribution of which Die Marriages were struck under which government may be subject to correction upon further analysis.)

As you know from consulting the book linked by rhedden, in 1993, W-B only detailed four die marriages: one generic listing and three listings associated with the Confederacy. (Wiley noted that he and Bugert had identified a total of over 1,000 die marriages, but space limitations only let them describe 306 in the book.)

In the 2005 article, Wiley acknowledges that in March 1992, Julian lent him a box of 189 circulated 1861-O halves. He compared these coins to the 33 coins belonging to him and Bill Bugert. He also mentions that in January 2005 he studied a hoard of coins that had been salvaged from the SS Republic, but doesn't indicate how many coins were in that hoard.

Coinosaurus

PM me for a photocopy of the Gobrecht Journal #94 article.