numhysteria Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Hello all, May I have your opinion on this 1861 half that sold on ebay for 46 dollars? To me it looks like an ordinary fake but I am not specialized in US coins. A friend of mine asked if I could post here so please feel free to express your opinions. Weight is 5.5 grams, the diameter is 26 mm and the rim is flat. Thank you and best regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleBobo Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 It is a fake. That coin is a half dollar made for the Confederate States of America and I think that only three or four of them were struck. If someone paid $46 dollars for that copy they are a fool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtryka Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 It's way too light, standard silver halves are 12.5 grams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCoinCzar Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 Yes your coin is a reproduction. The real coins were re-struck on the reverse by the South when they took control of the mint. They just took all of the half dollars they wanted and made them confederate! Because of the tedious work required to re-strike the reverses not that many were re-minted and thus we have considerable rarity among the surviving halves. On the original coins the obverse is somewhat flattened due to the tremendous force required to strike over the reverse so even though these halves are extremely rare, they don't look like they are in the best shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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