Jefferson Davis' CSA Half

John Ford would be good enough for me. Seems like he was quite the rebel himself-a 50 million dollar collection and nary a federal coin in sight. It's fitting that he once owned that coin.

 

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Didn't the Union army confiscate a CSA $50 bill that Jefferson Davis had on him when he was arrested? i wonder what ever happened to that

 

What about the CSA $5 that Lincoln had folded up inside his wallet?

 

Actually only getting past the embellished stories about the Confederacy and their coins and finding the truth is the only thing that is good enough for me. If you are a numismatist and satisfied with other than the truth about the precious coins we collect, then I feel sad for you. The simple truth is Jeff Davis never had that coin. He declined to identify the half dollar as "being a duplicate of the one to which you refer" 1879 letter to Marcus Wright. Varina Davis identified the "coin" taken from her as a gold Davis dime.

 

Don't feel sad for me, I just read and accepted the article.

Feel sad for your attitude, you are too pompous for me

Where is that ignore button?

See you in 20,000 posts.

Oh, he who has #3 of them.

 

Thats in a museum i think. i still wonder why Lincoln had CSA currency on him

 

The only thing simple is you & your response.

 

A souvenir?

 

Yes, it is quite fitting that he owned the coin. He had a deep interest in the Confederacy. In fact at one time he had upwards of 8 original Confederate Cents. I only had the opportunity of speaking with him once before he passed but we compared notes and he agreed the story of Memminger giving the coin to Davis was fiction. How writings on this were published after his death. Interesting man he was. Some controversy about him and assay bars, but all in all we are numismatic my all indebted to him.

 

If simply trying to share the fruits of nearly 40 years of research on Confederate coinage issues is pompous, I plead guilty.

I merely mused my feelings of sadness for you because you miss the mystery and mystique of the Confederacy in favor of embellished fiction.

It is not you personally. I attack no-one personally, it is the fiction I attempt to correct. But if calling me pompous makes you feel better, so be it.

Have a good day sir! I will still read your posts whether you care to read mine or not.

 

Gentlemen, I think we should take a deep breath, and accept that all do not share things with the same passion. Some might cut off and eat their index finger for this coin, but I am not such. The history of the coin is interesting and in my mind enhanced by the confusion and inaccuracies. George, I admire the time and research you have put into this, but your enthusiasm and the direct comments, not allowing other conclusions could be interpreted as being somewhat pompous, but believe me, you will find many others who speak directly also. Jim

 

Jim, your points are well taken and accepted. Actually I did take that deep breath before I wrote my last post.

The directness challenging other conclusions comes from past debates. For over 100 years the story of 12 original Confederate Cents prevailed from John Haseltine' s 1908 speech. My colleague and I suggested for several years there were more and all we received was a lot of flack for calling the story inaccurate. So we went direct and simply laid out the photographs of 13 known originals all with different pedigrees back to 1874. We know of one other for which we do not have a picture.

They changed the Red Book listing. Neither of us have been disparaged since. The third party grading agencies have asked our assistance in identifying markers on counterfeits since then.

This expertise is what I hoped to share on Coin talk. Trust me, I never expected it to be easy to break down the fiction. I have no issues with the members here, only the fictions they have been given to perpetuate.

 

Whether or not the provenance is correct which is something I deal with daily is regardless to me. Would I absolutrly love to own this or any confederate half or for that matter any original confederate coin. Yes!! I hope to someday get a Scott re strike of this and the die cracked 1861-o half. Being a huge civil war buff and descended from several confederate soldiers myself. My only regret is Jeff Davis R. E. Lee and co didn't win. If Lincoln hadnt finally replaced McLellan who was basically afraid to fight they may well have

 

I think the Civil War is perhaps the most interesting and intriguing period in our history. Likewise it one of the most misunderstood periods of our history. Everybody wants to explain the period looking through twentieth, now twentyfirst, century lenses on their glasses.

I have not studied the military side, but most if not all that do say it was closer than most think that the south could have won.

 

Interesting history from George Corell. Unfortunately I expect the "ex-Jeff DAvis" on the label will boost the sale price considerably.
I don't know if the museum of the Confederacy has an example in their collection. Anyone know?

 

Honestly I think the provenance will help but how often you ever see a csa half original for sale?

 

Ain't America great, and to think you live in the state that produced Joshua Chamberlain!

 

Yup. Half my family are New England Yankees with roots here from 1640 on my other half are an early southern family that started out in va then headed to tn post rev war. They came over ca 1680. The civil war is great history but the revolution is what I really love

 

No, they do not. Two are privately held, the two up for auction in 2015. One, the Taylor specimen is in the ANS collection and the other is in the Newman collection at Washington University museum in St. Louis.

 

Thanks for the information.