Confederate flag stamped?

Any information about this penny would be greatly appreciated.

 

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Someone doesn't like Lincoln.

 

Someone struck it hard enough to have caused damage on the Obverse and the Reverse

 

It is called a counterpunch. Done in a persons garage, not by the US mint. Most often these are small and have a masonic image, a state outline or anything of curio or significant interest to the person that is imposing the image on the coin. This one is interesting in that it covers the entire face of the cent. I suppose that person had a statement to make. Numismatically speaking, it is simply damage.

 

A novelty cent. There are so many different types. This was was punched really hard and it shows on the reverse by being worn in the counterstamp design. A great coin to start a collection.

 

IMHO, this is not "garage cent" as suggested. This coin appears to have been hit by a well-executed, prepared die, produced by a skilled machinist. I concur that it fits the category of being a novelty cent. Dies like this do not come cheap, and the incentive to produce it was far more likely entrepreneurial than political. Stamped pieces like this, souvenirs of sorts, are often sold or distributed at tourist sites.

 

ot so much worn as simply being flattened against whatever the cent was laying on when it was stamped.

Interesting thing, I notice the stamp is upside down.

 

I've read that the star orientation may have varied over time for various reasons. I cannot find any references right now though. Variations IIRC are the single point up, the single point down (with 2 up as with the stamp on this coin), or the single point up but tilted at the same angle of the bars. The last two are hard to tell the difference between because the angle of the bars results in very similar orientation of the points.

 

Interesting! Do you think whoever done this stamped more coins? Anyone else have a coin with this stamp on it? If the die is not cheap I would definitely think there would be more??

 

I'd agree with those that think that this is a product from someone's garage with a bit too much time on their hands.

 

Every die cutter tests their punches. It is easiest to test on a relatively soft coin. Silver coins do not circulate any more so the softest available metal is copper or copper plated zinc in the US. This design may have been made to be used on a firearm or a knife blade. The size of the design tells us that it was not intended for use on a cent.

 

Here's an article (PDF) that discusses these Confederate battle flag stamps.

http://numis.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Mar-Apr-2014-NIB-color.pdf

Apparently, some state quarters have been found with this stamp.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinte.../quarter_i_got_in_change_has_the_confederate/

It's possible that the stamp was created to retaliate for the taking down of a real Confederate battle flag.

 

Thank you for using the correct term for this. This is not the Confederate Flag - it is the Confederate Battle Flag.

 

Battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, Some of the other armies and some units had their own battle flags.

 

Flags have not been taken down unless they were state flags or flown with state flags. If this is a protest it may be against taking down confederate statues.

 

Thanks for all the responses. Very helpful. Unfortunately what I have learned has made me realize I wish I never found this coin. Don’t like the drama that’s behind it. It’s not even a great conversation piece in my mind. Don’t get me wrong I’m very patriotic and respect our great country’s history. Very thankful for all the men and women that has served this country. To stamp a penny to protest something is silly to me. Coins are interesting and fun as a hobbie. When it comes to politics I get kinda stressed out about all that has been going on in this country and 8 years of Obama was a spit in my face. At least the penny still says ‘IN GOD WE TRUST” Anyways This coin will be back in circulation And I hope the next person that’s finds it will have great joy from it. Again all the replies are truly appreciated. Hopefully the next post will be a 55 double die or a copper 43 penny!!! Something positive at least!!!

 

Counterstamps are/were "signs of the times." Here's one of the earliest and most popular political counterstamps from the pre Civil War era. Doubtless, there were many folks who looked down on these at the time. For me, it's a keeper ....

 

Forget spending it. Tuck it in a corner of your collection. You may decide to start collecting counterstamped coins in the future. One never knows.

 

That is a very unusual cent. Nice find!

 

I am not able to open the above links at work, but there should be some background on this counterstamp out there on the Internet (maybe even here in an old thread).

This appears to be the same counterstamp that was used on various state quarters about 15 years ago (give or take a couple years). As I recall, the punch was made by a gentleman in a southern state (maybe one of the Carolinas?) who was making a political statement. He was not pro-Confederacy, but pro-Southern traditions (I am not trying to be controversial, just repeating what I recall reading). At some point he passed away and his widow lent the punch to a few others.

I have a couple of these on quarters somewhere, but have never heard of it on cents. If you were to put it on eBay and accurately describe it ("counterstamp") I am sure it would sell for at least a few dollars. That might not sound like much, but it is worth hundreds of times its face value which is not a bad return on your investment.

It is definitely in a different class than your typical novelty cent as it was made to circulate, made with a political message in mind, and is scarce or rare on this denomination.