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FUN Signature US Coin Sale 1251 4-6 & 8-9 Jan 2017
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Confederate States of America
1861-Dated "Confederate Half Dime," A United South, DeWitt-Sullivan C 1861-2, AU58 NGC. Silver, 13 mm. Walter Breen discussed this and related pieces on page 666 of his Complete Encyclopedia, stating that nothing is known of their origin. However, we know that these pieces were made by A.O.H.P. Sehorn of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Traditionally called a half dime, the size is about that of a contemporary three cent silver piece. A note in the April 1878 issue of the Coin Collector's Journal describes this piece and notes that a P. Sid Jones of the Millburn Wagon Company received it on October 9, 1862.
The obverse has a flag with 14 stars, the legend A UNITED SOUTH above, and the date, 1861, below. The reverse depicts a cotton plant inside a ring of 15 stars. A coin of the same description was in the possession of Esquire W.F. Meacham in 1868, according to an article that appeared in The Tennessean (Nashville) of March 24, 1868, with identification of Sehorn as the maker in a further article four days later. While they are unofficial coins of the Confederacy, these pieces are clearly contemporary to the Civil War rather than fantasy pieces of a later date. A comment in DeWitt-Sullivan suggests the early Civil War era production: "Undoubtedly it was struck in the early days of the Confederacy when its leaders hoped to bring no less than fifteen states into the Confederacy under a cotton economy."
This example is likely the finest of an estimated eight to 10 known examples, featuring a bold strike, pale brown toning, and traces of luster on its pewter-gray surfaces, and is one of just two unpierced examples known. This piece and the AU55 NGC example that we sold for $28,200 as part of the Donald Groves Partrick Collection in January 2015 are virtually identical.
Ex: John J. Ford, Jr. (Stack's, 10/2003), lot 332.
1861-Dated "Confederate Half Dime," A United South, DeWitt-Sullivan C 1861-2, AU58 NGC. Silver, 13 mm. Walter Breen discussed this and related pieces on page 666 of his Complete Encyclopedia, stating that nothing is known of their origin. However, we know that these pieces were made by A.O.H.P. Sehorn of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Traditionally called a half dime, the size is about that of a contemporary three cent silver piece. A note in the April 1878 issue of the Coin Collector's Journal describes this piece and notes that a P. Sid Jones of the Millburn Wagon Company received it on October 9, 1862.
The obverse has a flag with 14 stars, the legend A UNITED SOUTH above, and the date, 1861, below. The reverse depicts a cotton plant inside a ring of 15 stars. A coin of the same description was in the possession of Esquire W.F. Meacham in 1868, according to an article that appeared in The Tennessean (Nashville) of March 24, 1868, with identification of Sehorn as the maker in a further article four days later. While they are unofficial coins of the Confederacy, these pieces are clearly contemporary to the Civil War rather than fantasy pieces of a later date. A comment in DeWitt-Sullivan suggests the early Civil War era production: "Undoubtedly it was struck in the early days of the Confederacy when its leaders hoped to bring no less than fifteen states into the Confederacy under a cotton economy."
This example is likely the finest of an estimated eight to 10 known examples, featuring a bold strike, pale brown toning, and traces of luster on its pewter-gray surfaces, and is one of just two unpierced examples known. This piece and the AU55 NGC example that we sold for $28,200 as part of the Donald Groves Partrick Collection in January 2015 are virtually identical.
Ex: John J. Ford, Jr. (Stack's, 10/2003), lot 332.