Confederate Coins

mack that really is a beautiful design on that coin

I just decided to upgrade the half in my 7070 to a CSA half - this will be a fun hunt!

Robert Bashlow was a very interesting eccentric coin buff/dealer who among other "adventures" enjoyed recreating famous coins of the past. For the Confederate "restrikes" he had AG Frank and Company in Philadelphia create transfer die copies from both the cent and half. The cent dies were cancelled with chisel strikes and badly rust pitted when Bashlow obtained them. The transfer dies are very very accurate down to die cracks on the original dies. Some work was done to clean and smooth the pitting. Though we see the copper, silver and Goldine (brass) pieces he also done very small quantities in platinum, gold, tin, hard paper etc. Splashers and strikes in blocks of copper also exist. For the record, these are no more "Confederate" than a kids kepi bought in a tourist shop. They are what they are and fully Collectable. Despite these facts, Heritage has now decided to list them "confederate" in search terms. The cents are piedfort, double thickness, and none were struck on copper nickel planchets, as we're the 12 (or 13 or 14) originals. As for the Half Dollars, four original coins exist. These four and only these four were struck in New Orleans by Confederate Authorities using a screw press They felt the design was too "high relief" for the lower pressure steam press. Jefferson Davis carried one as a pocket piece and when his party was captured at wars end it was found in his wife's luggage. Restrikes occurred in 1879 and are still being done. The restrikes were made by planing off the reverse of struck halves and padding the obverse with leather. All have a somewhat flattened obverse and are somewhat available today, though expensive. The Scott token was made at this time using a white metal planchet and different obverse. While the four half dollars ARE the only actual designed and struck Reb coins, they were in control of the Sputhern Mjnts for a short time and 1861 D gold dollars and $5 liberty gold was actually "confederate".

For more reading on CSA coins I suggest Hill and Levi " Robert Lovett A Confederate Story" and John J Fords writing on the CSA coinage and his astonishing collection in Stacks Ford Collection Volume 1 Lovett borrowed the basic design from his 1860 store card, which was also struck in various metals including this example done on an identical copper nickel flan as the originals.

Here's the Bashlow CSA half Restrike

Well apparently I was wrong about Bashlow making Confederate half restrikes. I do notice something interesting on that restrike. Doing a little searching on this I found references that state the Confederate die has not been seen since the 1920's. But that Bashlow restrike shows die rust above the ER in America, and in the leftmost stripe of the shield. Pictures of the Scott Restrikes show die rust, but not as extensive, in the same locations. If Bashlow had new dies made I would not have expected him to copy the die rust (Transfer dies would reproduce the rust) Maybe somehow Bashlow DID manage to get his hands on the original die! I wonder where it is now? The Bashlow Confederate cent dies and the transfer dies were I believe donated to the Smithsonian. Did he do the same with the half dollar?