I been going down a rabbit hole here because I want to bid on some "O" mint halves going to auction tomorrow..... Now I am not, nor will I ever be one of those guys that studies die varieties, but my curiosity is up on the 1861-O halves. History tells us that Louisiana seceded in January of 1861. Yet there are plenty of 1861-O halves minted. As I fall deeper into this rabbit hole, I see we have: 1861-O, USA Issued 1861-O Louisiana Issued 1861-O CSA Issued And of course the 1861-O, CSA Obverse All the 1861-O halves with exception of the CSA obverse appear to me to be typical 1861-O halves. Is it just the study of the die variety minutia that tells us a USA half versus a Louisiana or CSA minted half?
Randy, as you know I am not a die variety guy. It all sounds interesting but does it really matter? Who’s going to pay extra for what I consider something to be so minor? I’ll probably get beat up over this but to me it’s so minor, interesting but minor. What I’m trying to say is, if you had a die variety for each of the four coins hype mentioned from 1861-O, is there really a premium placed on that?
Oh yeah... I totally get that. I am like you and just want the nicest type coins I can get my grubby hands on. Just wondering how we can know today 165 years later what halves were minted by the USA versus the CSA.
I am certainly no expert, especially when it comes to distinguishing who made 1861-O haves. From what I have read, these are distinguished by die state. Since all the dies would have come to New Orleans from Philadelphia before Louisiana seized the mint, it is presumed they would have worn out as each entity used them. By that reasoning, the earliest die states would have to be USA, the mid-die states would be Louisiana, and the late die states would be CSA. With a knowledge of just how quickly dies wore down, fairly accurate estimates could be made about how many of a given die had been made at a given die state. I wonder, however, how certain we can be of the accuracy of this. Do we know, for instance, that all the dies were put in service at the same time by the USA? If they were put in service sequentially, then each issuer could have issued some of each die state, but with different dies. Perhaps there is documentation of how they were put into service. As I said, I am no expert but would really like to know. As a retired history teacher, for example, I'd like to know who made my worn and damaged coin:
There has been a lot of study on the subject. I was more than happy to cherry-pick a CSA variety off eBay. A little upset PCGS felt the need to say harshly cleaned.
I don't know what the current thinking is, but for as long as I have been active as a collector, this little die crack which runs from the rim to Ms. Liberty's nose is a sign that the coin was struck by the Confederacy. It appears on the four known Confederate half dollars which the New Orleans made with the Confederate reverse or obverse depending on your point of view. The die crack is not very big or obvious. Here is the whole coin. For those who are not familiar with this rare coin, the Confederacy struck four pieces with the Confederate die. Later the die came to light and the Scott Stamp and Coin company made “restrikes” of it using 1861-O dollars with a planed off reverse. Here is an example of one. If you can find one of these pieces with the die crack on the obverse, it's worth a substantial premium.
