1861 Half Dollar (1861 50C) CSA Restrike PCGS MS62.  J.W. Scott & Company created this restrike using the reverse of the 1861 Confederate States of America half dollar stamped on a planed-down 1861-O regular issue half dollar taken from circulation. Accordingly, on all examples the grading is done by the reverse only, as the obverse always shows wear and is slightly flattened from the striking process. The present coin is no exception. The high points on the obverse are flat and show some wear. The letters er in the word liberty are indistinct, and there are several marks in the obverse field. On the reverse there is chipping at the dentils above er in America and some bulging in the center. The other devices are all sharp, clear, and lustrous, with high contrast between the field and the raised portions of the design. PCGS has holdered the coin with the reverse out to show the Confederate inscriptions and devices.

During 1879, B.F. Taylor, the ex-Chief Coiner of the Confederate Mint, sold the die that was used to make the reverse side of the 4 original Confederate designed and minted half dollars to E. Mason Jr. of Philadelphia, who resold the die J. Walter Scott and Company, a New York coin dealer. In 1882 Scott obtained 500 circulated 1861 dated U.S. Seated Liberty half dollars to be used for his planned restrikes. The first few restrikes were minted by striking the die directly onto the reverse of the U.S. half dollar which resulted with some of the original U.S. design being visible underneath the Confederate reverse. On the remainder of the 500 half dollars, Scott shaved off the U.S. reverse design and restruck the now blank back of the coin with the original Confederate reverse die. (The present coin is an example of this second restrike.) The half dollars were placed in a collar to restrain lateral expansion, with the obverse of the coin placed on an accommodating surface, perhaps a piece of leather.

The blank reverse was then struck with a Confederate die, creating a "Confederate half dollar." The weight of an original Scott Restrike Confederate half dollar should be 12.44 grams on the earliest examples where portions of the U.S. design are visible underneath the restrike and slightly less on the restrikes that had the U.S. reverse shaved off. Also on a Scott Restrike, the dentils on the reverse may be off-center and may appear to not be quite as far to the edge of the coin as they are on its front. In addition, Scott struck 500 half dollar sized tokens in a white metal using the Confederate die and a newly made die to commemorate the restrikes of the Confederate half dollars. . Modern copies of the Scott Restrike have been produced since the 1960's and are usually struck in white metal or bronze and have no collector value.