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1861-O Confederate Half Dollar?

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jbuck's Avatar
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 Posted 11/18/2024  10:16 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jbuck to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
...why did they continue with the "United States of America," engraving on it? ... Was there any actual coinage that they converted to "Confederate States of America"?
They just used the existing dies they had. Patterns for CSA coins where made, but I believe that is it.

Read more here:
http://goccf.com/t/190460
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paralyse's Avatar
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 Posted 11/18/2024  4:31 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add paralyse to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
The master hubs were engraved at Philadelphia and shipped to the branch mints (New Orleans, San Francisco, Charlotte and Dahlonega) to be used in the preparation of dies.

While the CSA definitely had individuals with the skill to design and engrave new hubs for Confederate coinage (as Jbuck noted, patterns were made) it is doubtful that they would have had the ability to do so given the wartime conditions in New Orleans (the mint workers were not inclined to work under duress) and the lack of raw metals needed to create new hubs, dies, and planchets. The Confederate states had some resources that were bountiful, but silver, nickel and copper were not foremost among them, and wartime hoarding had already driven many existing coins out of circulation. Despite those obstacles, the post-secessionist New Orleans mint still managed to strike over two million half dollars, quite an accomplishment given the lack of fresh dies available in the event of breakage and wear. They were hoarded as well (and a lot of them went down with the SS Republic.) It's likely that any other CSA-minted coinage would have simply been hoarded too, and base metals were more needed for cannon, shot, rifles, and other industrial and military uses.

When Davis later moved the Treasury from New Orleans to Columbus in 1862, most of the gold and silver went with him, and it was later dispersed throughout the South, stolen, embezzled, or allegedly even buried in part. The CSA couldn't even pay its own troops in coinage of any sort on many occasions and was mostly reliant on inflationary paper money, equally worthless promissory notes and interest-bearing war bonds along with the occasional Mexican silver coinage and - near the very end of the war - directly in silver and gold coins and bullion that had been hastily reallocated from the CSA's remaining Treasury holdings (at least that part of which hadn't already been absconded with by Jefferson Davis and his generals.)
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Edited by paralyse
11/18/2024 4:34 pm
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Coinfrog's Avatar
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 Posted 11/18/2024  4:33 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Coinfrog to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Good background stuff, thanks.
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jbuck's Avatar
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52Raymo's Avatar
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 Posted 11/22/2024  09:01 am  Show Profile   Check 52Raymo's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add 52Raymo to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Appreciate the read paralyse.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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paralyse's Avatar
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 Posted 11/23/2024  2:08 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add paralyse to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
The lore behind the Confederate treasury (and the rampant speculation associated with it) is deep and fascinating!

People have been digging holes in bayous, swamps and forests for years now from Louisiana to Florida looking for lost Confederate gold and silver. It's doubtful that much, if any, of the Treasury's coins and bullion would have actually been buried for any reason, but that doesn't stop treasure hunters from seeking a bit of fame now and again.
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jbuck's Avatar
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 Posted 11/23/2024  2:52 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jbuck to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
It's doubtful that much, if any, of the Treasury's coins and bullion would have actually been buried for any reason, but that doesn't stop treasure hunters from seeking a bit of fame now and again.
Once the idea of lost treasure takes hold it is difficult to give up.
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Conder101's Avatar
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 Posted 11/29/2024  08:09 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Conder101 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Master hubs were made at Philadelphia but they were never shipped out to the branch mints. All coinage dies were produced at Philadelphia and then shipped to the mints. Usually in a hardened state ready for use, but sometimes in an unhardened state and the branch mints would do the hardening. While there were artisans in the south that could produce a die, I don't they they had the capability for rapid duplication of dies through hubbing. They just didn't have the presses for it. No branch mint did its own hubbing of dies from a master hub until the Die shop in Denver opened up in 1997. Philadelphia still makes all the dies for San Francisco and West Point.

The mints captured by the Confederacy most likely continued coining until the gold and silver on hand had all been turned into coin. Charlotte and Dahlonega never have larger stoks of gold on hand so their output was small. New Orleans, being a major port city, had considerable more and so coinage there continued til April.
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Coinfrog's Avatar
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 Posted 11/29/2024  09:02 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Coinfrog to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Interesting, thanks for that.
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