1/2 Dollar - The Confederate States of America

Only four original Confederate half dollars were struck in 1861, using a obverse die cut by A.H.M. Peterson and a reverse salvaged from the U.S. Mint in New Orleans before federal authorities retook the facility. The originals are effectively uncirculated curiosities — they never entered commerce. In 1879, coin dealer J.W. Scott struck 500 restrikes using the original Confederate reverse paired with a defaced 1861-O U.S. half dollar obverse, and it is almost certainly one of those restrikes — or a later copy — that a lead example represents.