I have been called everything but stupid for thinking my confederate half may be real, some idiots say there are only four, I am aware there are only four on us halves but most are unaware of the scott restrikes on white metal (500) a professional dealer no less, I have also been told the white metal was silver, also wrong according to history , my coin has the exact same die crack repeadily shown on all of the actual "real" ones i've seen through the words "original die scott" I think so little is known about the real ones everyone seems to automatically assume it is a fake... someone help me please... look at the photos and look at a real scott restrike on white metal and compare the die cracks I think i have a real scott restrike on white metal, redbook price 800-3000$ i do not think it is a fake what do you think?
Not an expert - even though yours is a little porous or corroded it does not seem to have the same sharp strike as the real example you posted. My first thought was a cast counterfeit - wait for an expert. Again the best way to find out for certain is to send it in for verification. For $800 to $3000 it might be worth the $50 or so to find out.
replica, with die cracks? how many replicas have i seen with replicated die cracks in them....uhhhhhhhhh none.
Well - as I said not an expert on these. Then again how many times will you ask before you get it certified. That will end all speculation from everyone.
Your photos shows the token as represented in the Redbook, and not the restrike which were made of planed 1861 N.O. halves obverses and "restruck" on the planed side with the confederate reverse. 500 restrikes as such and of coin silver. Then Scott used his own obverse ( like on yours) to strike 500 white metal tokens. Still a nice token and nice value if shown to be a truely struck token. I do have strong doubts as to its originality due to the pitting and general surfaces. Copies made by spark process would copy cracks, etc, but also add pitting from the electrical spark. A start would be to weigh it to fractions of grams and compare with the weight of a real restrike. http://www.csacurrency.com/csacoin/csa50ct.htm Jim
"Idiots"? That's a little harsh. Your piece has very porous surfaces (like a common cast fake). I agree with desertgem - you should weigh your coin and compare the weight to the weight of a known example. I would also suggest conducting a SG (Specific Gravity) test to determine the metallic content.
I would suggest that you have received the best advice possible. Do or have your local dealer check the SG, as hobo suggested. that will provide you with the best evidence of originality. Good luck, hope you have a rare piece there. Please keep us updated.
sorry dont mean to be harsh for someone to reply that there are only 4 real ones and thats it and thats all and any other coin that even resembles a confederate half cant be real because they are all accounted for: they are speaking without knowing jumping to the conclusion that all or any other confederate half dollars are fake, dont know the whole story and if you speak about something you dont know about like you are a coin genius then what are you ? there are 500 restrikes and 500 tokens on white metal thats 1000 more REAL confederate coins
Well, no, there are not 1000 more REAL confederate coins. There are 4 Real confederate halves that were struck front ( 1861 Seated half obv.) and back ( original confederate half die) as a die pair at New Orleans, and by the Confederate government. Then later, not in new orleans, and not by the confederates, Scott bought the confederate reverse die and made the 500 restrikes using just half of a real coin ( 1861 N.O. halves obverse part, reverse shaved off) and striking it with the confederate half reverse. The result would be of coin silver, but reduced weight due to the planing of the original reverse, the obverse would be lower profile because it was already there when the restrike occurred. Since it was struck outside of the mint, it is not a proper U.S. Coin. The striking with his own obverse and the confederate reverse, neither one recognized as even part of a regular US coin is a token. Semantics seem to have been the difficulty. Scott also did similar with the confederate cent. There are several threads on the site you can search for that. Jim
ok so as usual there are only four real coins ...all others, scott made are not I assume. And yes confederate coins are not considered U.S. coins hence the term confederate states
The following definition is from the PCGS web site for Coin Lingo: From Coin Collecting Terms & Acronymns:
The semantics can get confused, and the redbook doesn't speak clearly to the issue. I must apologize as I said that Scott did the same for the confederate cent, and I knew better, but was thinking more of typing than saying Haseltine and then Bashlow Jim
restrike.... exactly would like to make it very ...very clear, I am not assuming i have an original, or a restrike, just a scott token on white metal as referred to in many history articles I have done many hours of searching and have not found any copy simular to this one I have seen many many coins that are obviously fakes of the originals or restrikes I have not seen any exact replicas of the scott token on white medal with the die cracks like the coin in question. take a look for yourself lots of posts on this website alone
Your original question was and since we seem to have settled on the idea of a Scott token, let consider your question. Several people have commented and no one said "fake". What was said was that there is suspicion due to the surface appearance. You see the token, we see photos, and can't tilt them to see the surface 3-D, and that is a disadvantage. Yet many of us have seen copies with surfaces like this that are either copies or have been buried in soil for a while. We are not trying to give you a hard time, it is just that there is not enough to say it is authentic. It is not just your token, if I showed a trade dollar with the same appearance, I would get the same response. Anyway all of us forgot to welcome you to the forum, I hope you stick around. Someone that has more expertise in this will probably chime in as tokens and Civil war tokens specifically are very collectible. Jim
Can you provide a photo with direct attention to the reverse focussing in at angle view to look into that upper rim damage area? thanks.
