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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 1098900, member: 66&quot;]If it is actually a speared berry then it was issued by the Confederacy (That&#039;s the same reverse as on my own coin.)&nbsp; The variety numbers listed in the Wiley -Bugart book do not relate closely to the emission sequence and the WB-104 is now separated into two varieties W-14 and W-15.&nbsp; An early 104 would be the W-14 and it should show a vertical die crack down between the 8 &amp; 6.&nbsp; If the crack is not there then it is probably a late 104, W-15 and is paired with obv 1 that was originally used by the US and was the last die pair used by the Confederacy.&nbsp; (The obv die from W-14 was in it&#039;s second usage.&nbsp; In it&#039;s uncraked state it was paired with a different reverse, not the speared berry.)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>In the early 1850s the gold discoveries in California had caused the value of gold to decline and the silver in the coins, as priced in gold was now worth more than the face value.&nbsp; That was why the weight of the silver subsidiary coins was reduced in 1853.&nbsp; But they didn&#039;t reduce the silver content of the silver dollar so from 1853 until at least the late 1860&#039;s the silver in a silver dollar was worth approximately $1.04 in subsidiary coinage.&nbsp; The uncertainy caused by the war also drove up the price of silver.&nbsp; the average in 1860 was $1.29 an oz but by 1864 it had risen to $2.94 an oz. (at $1.2929 the silver in a silver dollar = $1 in metal&nbsp; So by 1864 a silver dollar contained over $2 in metal.)&nbsp;&nbsp; By the late 1860&#039;s the silver coming from the western mines was causing silver to drop but it didn&#039;t reach the break even point again until 1877.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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