Two 1842 Zsom Cap And Rays: Conterfeit? S-Bob Please Help

Both coins are in my opinion real. They are both examples of the square tailed eagle punch used at the end of 1842 and the beginning of 1843.

A side by side comparison of the pictures shows differences that are typical of dies made with King Punches and NOT hubs.

We are used to modern die making procedures which make working coin dies with full hubs (dies to make dies). These dies were made with a series of punches that had to be pressed into the die face ONE AT A TIME.

The first punch was the Eagle itself. It was often weakly impressed which called for adding finishing touches like the tongue and eyes or some of the feathers. But even when it was fully struck - later die finishing strikes could make small alterations ion the appearance.

After the eagle punch was pressed in the other features were added one punch at a time. The cactus pads were added as a group (no longer one at a time) but the spines were cut individually. The branches were punched in element by element resulting in each die being unique.

The letters were also added ONE AT A TIME so spacing variations are irrelevant. Repunched letters and some over punched letters to correct errors are in fact possible.

The Cap die was prepared in the same way and when you compare a number of coins side by side you can pick out which elements were on what punch.

There are also differences in appearance caused by the rolling of the silver ingot BEFORE it was blanked. One of the coins was made on silver stock that was significantly tapered at both sides. Because the ingot rollers were MANUAL the strip of metal was only ONE COIN WIDE not a metal sheet like we use today.

This die by die variation is PRECISELY why this is an interesting series.

Compare the die sinking deviations seen on US Half Dollars with these coins and you see that US matrix standards were held to a much narrower tolerance. Overton began my interest in die by die variation but this series is by far MORE INTERESTING and collectible than the US half dollar coins.