Interesting South Carolina State quarter

Anyone,

I do not collect coins but I am looking for some answers on this one. My son, who is 11 yrs old, is saving coins and beginning a collection. He was counting the money in his savings bottle yesterday and he found a South Carolina Quarter that looked different than all of the others. It had, what looked like, a Confederate Flag "Stars and Bars" logo imprinted into the back of the coin. Does anyone know about this? I am looking for any type of answers for this because my son is full of questions and research on the net isn't producing anything. Again, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
BigBen

 

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Hi, Ben.

Someone put that on the coin after it entered circulation.
Hard to say why.
People do strange things to coins.
It doesn't make it worth more tham a quarter.

 

This link might have something to do with it.
See what you think...

http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/94/137/01_97_m.html

 

Is that how the law actuallyr eads or just the paper's thought on the matter? If this were the case wouldnt all of the Kennedy/Lincoln post mint overstrikes be illegal, our local expert's hobo coins, and writing www.wheresgeorge.com or I love you on currency?

Making money to pass off as real I can see as illegal of course, but I think the newspaper was sniffing too much ink with that statement:hatch:

 

You're right.

 

wheresgeorge is perfectly legal, as long as you don't render the bill useless, mark out the serial, series, or water mark or secirety strip your fine. as for coins, you can do all you want to them.

 

Not to be a pessimist, but can anyone prove this line of thought? Legally that is? I know of no statutes that explicitly allow modification or marking on coin or currency. I for one would hate to have the SS sniffing through my underware drawer when I was going on hearsay from CoinTalk that "it was OK" .. Again just playing the devils advocate, someone prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it is ok and legal to modify, mutilate and mark on currency and coin.:hammer: Court is now in session!

 

here is proof. i've been spending marked bills for about a year now, and haven't got any trouble. people on wg? get bricks of $1 bills, enter them into the website, mark them with their stamps, and then spend them. its called ems.

 

A good friend on mine and a fellow coin carver, recarved a wheat cent about 2 years ago for president Bush..It had to have the ok of the president,s legal office before he could accept it and it took about 6 months before all the laws were checked by his office to make sure it was legal ..It was accepted...There was a law created in 1886 against plating 1883 nickels with gold [ the no cents version ] and being passed as five dollar gold coins..If a person altered a coin like changing date, mint mark, etc. with the intent to defraud someone, yes it,s illegal...Just think of all the jewery shops that sell cutout mercury dimes, all the private mints that use minted coins to stamp new designs on them, all the people who weld and cut out silver dollars and other coins on belt buckles, the list goes on and on...

 

I sold a couple on ebay for $5 each.

 

These were a political statement made by someone several years ago. I recall that there was a debate over the Confederate flag flying over the Capitol in SC (?). This may have been directly realted to that or at least a statement of "Southern pride".

I bought 5 or so on eBay a few years ago. They are a separate field of collecting, being called counterstamps or countermarks. They were added privately (not by the Mint) but are still collectable.

Good for him for spotting it. It is a good conversation starter.

I also have a different version where somneone has stamped a tiny Confederate flag at the top of the tree, making the tree a flagpole of sorts.

 

I saw an auction for a Lincoln cent, that the seller had pulled out of his pocket.
In his description, he proclaimed that he was tired of it, and had decided to auction it off.
It sold for several dollars.

 

Almost all requests i get for commssioned civil war coin carvings are of Confederate subjects, i,m not sure why..

 

BigBen:
And, welcome to the forum.

 

BigBen never even bothered to retun to check on his thread.
I assume he must have had an unfortunate occurance that prevented him from at least returning to say "thanks".

 

I think there is quite a difference between some hoax/gimmick/joke auction such as that mentioned, and a counterstamped coin that has obvious value due to the counterstamp. Counterstamped coins are highly collectable and this one is a known c/s. It will always have legitimate value to collectors of c/stamped coins.

 

You speak as though it has numismatic value beyond being just a novelty.
What are the known diagnostics?
Is it listed in Brunks, or are you just stating your personal opinion?

 

I have a few examples of this coin - they are all made with the same c/stamp.

As for Brunk, I have personally corresponded with him and he mentioned this very coin. He is looking for an example of one to include in an article on political counterstamps that he intends to write. I was warned by his publisher, however, that he has recently had some health (eye) issues, and not to send him anything at the moment. I certainly will in due course, though, and then you can see it in Brunk.

As for "numismatic value"?? I am not sure I would use this term for counterstamps, at least not in the strictest sense. In one respect, all counterstamped coins are "novelties", but many of them command respect (and big $$) from serious numismatists.

 

By the way...

I have tremendous appreciation and respect for what Brunk has done. However, there are many legit counterstamps that simply have not made it into his catalog yet. He doesn't know about them until someone tells him, and it is not as difficult as you might think to report a "discovery coin". For example, I had some coins counterstamped by a dealer in Iowa who has been doing it for years, and I was surpised that Brunk did not even know about them. I also have several counterstamp punches that I had made, and I have stamped thousands of coins with them, and Brunk is not yet aware of them. (When I get around to it, I will send him examples of everything, as well as selected examples from my collection that his book does not list).