You may ask why did I buy a holed coin? Well, it was actually intentional. I recently read an article on the history of the 1861-O half dollar and the New Orleans mint at the start of the civil war in 1861. Then I did more reading on the history of the mint and the half dollars produced that year. From the end of January through February, the state of Louisiana took control of the mint after seceeding from the Union. After February the CSA took control of the mint, and produced coinage through April. There are several die pairs and die marriages associated with the 1861 half dollars, some of which have been attributed to the CSA produced coins. After getting interested I wanted to get a piece of the history and managed to find an 1861-O half for $20 on Ebay. The coin had nice detail and was holed. The hole didn't bother me as it was low cost for the amount of detail, plus a big reason was that I'd like to imagine a confederate soldier, or family member, wearing this holed coin around their neck during the civil war, as a sign of good luck and/or maybe loyalty to the Confederacy. The coin came from a dealer in Tenessee, so maybe it had been kept down south since it was minted. The sellers pics were good, but on the dark side. After purchasing the coin I saved the sellers pics, and lightened them up on the computer and was happily surprised to see that this was a "speared olive bud" variety WB-104. This is one of the dies associated with the CSA produced coins - a nice surprise and a bonus! Here's the site I used to ID the WB-104 die information: http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/seated-half-dollars-1861-o/ Some New Orleans mint history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_Mint Here's my coin: A microscope shot of the speared olive bud on the reverse of my coin. The arrow points at the WB-104 variety die "spears" shown in the first link above: Hope I haven't bored you with all of this, but a lot of my interest in collecting involves the history of the coins. It's not very often that we know this much about a coin's history.
A little something to add to your find Mack........ http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=24900
I really like the story behind the coin. Sure beats some bogus behind some other coins I have seen here.
green18 - thanks for the link. I think I had seen that one, but didn't save the link. Now I did! There was another 1861-O that looked like (from the seller's picture) it might have had a chance of being the WB-102 variety, and I bid on it early on, but the price got too high at the end, and since I had the WB-104 I let it go. I like to "cherrypick" on Ebay at times for varieties that the seller isn't aware of. Log Potato - I have one of those, but it's got the wrong obverse LOL! :
Hello Mack, on your 1861-0 half dollar wb-104, congratulations. I like your writeup on this coin. I actually did the same thing but with the wb-103 bisected date which like yours indicates confederate mintage. I bought a holed coin on eBay and when I received it i saw the die crack between the 8 and 6. I have a little more information on your coin. There were 15 die marriages of the 1861-o half dollar, the last 5 were struck by the confederacy. I know what reverse die you have, look thru this and find the obverse die and which of the last 5 die marriages your coin belongs to. These are the die marriage characteristics Step 1. Does upperolive bud on Reverse have a bold file line through it (Plate 26)? Yes. This is Reverse F. Go to Step 1a. No. Go to step 2. Step 1a. Does the 6in the date have a die crack along its left edge (Plate 24)? Yes. This is Obverse 6 and MarriageW-14. No. This is Marriage W-15. Step 2. Does the 6 inthe date have a die crack along its left edge (Plate 24)? Yes. This is Obverse 6 and MarriageW-13. No. Go to Step 3. Step 3. Does theObverse have a die crack from the rim to Liberty’s nose (Plate 22)? Yes. This is Obverse 5 and MarriageW-11. No. Go to Step 4. Step 4. Does theReverse Legend have a die crack along top of “ES OF” (Plate 5)? Yes. This is Reverse B. Go to Step 4a. No. Go to Step 5. Step 4a. Does theReverse Shield have die clash damage (Plate 18)? Yes. Go to Step 4b. No. This is late Marriage W-02. Step 4b. Does Obversehave a Partial or No Drapery with die clash marks (Plate 17)? Yes. This is late Obverse 4 and MarriageW-08. No. This is Marriage W-09. Step 5. Does ReverseLegend have a weak die crack along top of “TA” (Plate 9)? Yes. This is Reverse C. Go to Step 5a. No. Go to Step 6. Step 5a. Does Obversehave distinctive clash damage in Drapery (Plate 3)? Yes. This is Obverse 1 and late MarriageW-03. No. This is Marriage W-04. Step 6. Is there asmooth area with missing feathers in the Eagle’s left wing (Plate 2)? Yes. This is Reverse A and MarriageW-01. No. Go to Step 7. Step 7. Does theObverse have a distinctive die clash in the Drapery (Plate 3)? Yes. This is Obverse 1. Go to Step 7a. No. Go to Step 8. Step 7a. Does Reversehave a small rust pit on bottom of middle arrowhead (Plate 8)? Yes. This is early Reverse C and early MarriageW-03. No. This is early Reverse B and early MarriageW-02. Step 8. Is the letter“R” in Reverse Legend damaged (Plate 15)? Yes. Go to Step 8a. No. Go to step 9. Step 8a. Does Obversehave small rust pit above clasp (Plate 14) and level date? Yes. This is Obverse 3 and MarriageW-06. No. This is Marriage W-07. Step 9. Is there astrong Halo around the Eagle on the Reverse (Plate 11 or 20)? Yes. Go to Step 9a. No. Go back to Step 1 and start over. You must have missed a clue. Step 9a. Is there ashort file line in the Reverse Shield recess (Plate 12)? Yes. This is Reverse D and MarriageW-05. No. This is Reverse E. Go to Step 9b. Step 9b. Is there abold Tine off the serif of the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] “1” in the date (Plate 21)? Yes. This is Obverse 5 and early Marriage11. No. This is Marriage 10.
712 - thanks for the additional information! I'd seen mention of the 15 die marriages. Is there a web site associated with those plate numbers?
712 - I'd looked for the other die cracks previously, and just looked again. I can't confirm the die crack on the 6, so if step 1 refers to the speared olive bud then I must have Marriage W-15. Was yours the W-14? Nice to get the further identification - thanks!
With new information I updated my photo. This is fun nailing down a coin with so much specific information!
