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 Replies: 8 / Views: 2,094 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Just want to share my 1861 half. Comments are welcome. A grade would be nice (I know I know, damaged  ). Which brings me to my question: what could've caused that kind of damage to it?    Sorry for the bad pics. My camera kind of sucks and I am still learning how to photograph coins. These happens to be my very first coin pics |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8904 Posts |
 She be plugged, no doubt. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4778 Posts |
Thanks for your answers. I only paid $7 for it. Damaged or not, it's still one of my favorite coins (my collection is somewhat small).
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
You could always pretend that it is an 1861-O that was holed and then strung on the neck of a Confederate soldier from Louisiana  For those not aware, over 85% of 1861-O Seated Liberty half dollars were minted under the authority of either the State of Louisiana after secession or the Confederate government. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Yeah, and of all places they made the hole on top of the mintmark area  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
526 Posts |
Quote:For those not aware, over 85% of 1861-O Seated Liberty half dollars were minted under the authority of either the State of Louisiana after secession or the Confederate government. Wow, never knew that. Thanks for sharing that piece of history. Now I have to find one..... How do you determine if the coin falls into the category you described. Edited by Freedom
05/26/2011 10:07 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
The most readily identifiable marker for a CSA half is listed in the RedBook, there is a die crack extending from Liberty's nose to the rim. That obverse was the same die that was used to mint the four genuine CSA half dollars with the Confederate States of America reverse design. Wiley and Bugert had identified a few other CSA varieties when they wrote their seminal book on the series. The full history of these half dollars was not written until the discovery of the SS Republic shipwreck in 2003. Among the treasure hauled up from a depth of 1700ft was a massive cache of 1861-O half dollars. Randall Wiley performed a thorough study of the coins and incredibly, the cache included examples of all 14 1861-O die marriages(the 15th marriage was the US obv/CSA rev pairing which was not found in the cache). Only two of them were attributable to the US Government so if you own an 1861-O, the odds are very good that it is either a Louisiana or CSA issued coin. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Cool info biokemist, thanks! But unfortunately my half most likely isn't CSA-issued; it doesn't have that die crack. Any indications to tell if it is a P half or an S?
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Replies: 8 / Views: 2,094 |
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Posted 05/25/2011 11:09 pm
