1861 50C CSA Restrike (1861 Confederated Half Dollar) PCGS MS62 CAC. B-8002. This rare 1861 Confederate Half Dollar restrike exhibits a strong strike with light rose toning on both sides of the coin. Mint luster is seen within the coins devices. Full details are seen on the wreath, the legends, and about half of the stripes of the shield. The obverse has some of the usual flatness associated with the issue. No wear is seen, as expected for a mint state coin, and the fields are original, clean, and free of individual marks worthy of description. This assessment is confirmed by the CAC sticker, which indicates that the piece is of premium quality and fully merits the grade it was assigned.

Immediately following the Civil War, numismatists did not know that the Confederate States had its own coinage with distinctive designs. However, after the war, Dr. B.F. Taylor, the former Chief Coiner for the Confederacy, retained in his possession the reverse die of the CSA fifty cent piece and four original coins. He kept this die secretly in fear of being prosecuted for treason since he supervised the manufacturing of the enemys coinage. In 1879, he revealed in the New Orleans Picayune that he had the die and an original coin. Ebenezer Locke Mason, Jr., a coin dealer bought the die and coin and sold them to J.W. Scott. When the editor or the American Journal of Numismatics learned of the restrike, he said, This piece having been struck in the New Orleans Mint by government officers, with government tools, and on silver stolen from the United States, should be restored to its true ownership, and then it should be placed in the Mint Cabinet. The obverse die, we hear, was claimed by the government; why not the reverse also?

Scott, a creative entrepreneur, wanted to promote and make restrikes of the half dollar. The die that he bought was rusted and a piece of the border near ER had been chipped. He didnt think the die would last too long. David Proskey helped Scott repolish it to reduce the effect of the rust, and they struck 500 tokens that were probably made from tin. These tokens had an advertising message or store card for Scott with the following inscription: 4 ORIGINALS STRUCK BY ORDER OF C.S.A. IN NEW ORLEANS 1861 *******REV. [sic] SAME AS U.S. (FROM ORIGINAL DIE: SCOTT) Since the die did not deteriorate during this run, Scott put his original plan into place. He took 500 1861 federal half dollars, some from circulation, and supposedly all from the New Orleans Mint. Proskey and he held four coins on a brass block with the obverse facing down and using a collar to prevent spreading, overstruck the coins with the Confederate reverse. The result was not particularly satisfying because the images of the original Federal and the CSA reverses mingled. To ameliorate this problem, Proskey planed off the reverses of the remaining 500 half dollars. They were then struck with the Confederate reverse. The result was that the restrikes produced had obverse flatness and unevenly struck reverses with weakness often seen in the legend. The coins were also lighter than the original by about half of a gram. After he struck these restrikes, Scott annealed the die and used a chisel to deface it. The present coin, B-8002, is one of these planed restrikes.

Since Proskey was able to take care of the operations, Scott was free to begin a marketing plan to sell the restrikes. He advertised that his offering was oversubscribed; however, only a portion of the mintage had been sold. Proskey later said that the remaining pieces were in Scotts inventory for many years. It was not until the 1920s that they were extensively distributed. Modern copies of the Scott restrikes have been made in the last sixty years. They are usually struck in white metal or bronze and have little or no collector value. Authentic restrikes made by Scott are highly desirable numismatic pieces.

All authentic copies of the Scott restrike are highly sought because people place them in the category of authentic Civil War artifacts. In its population report, NGC shows 14 1861 CSA half dollar restrikes with 22 better. As of January 2012, this piece has not been listed in the CAC consensus; however, three others are listed in circulated condition with the highest at AU55.