The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-31
Did The Confectionery Coin shVer
 Money:

Editor The Advertiser: , ] This question is asked in The BIT | min gham Ledger, in reference to | silver coin which has recently come
 dale of McCalla, Ala. The coin Tn
 question is silver half dollar, bear | ing the date, 1861, having on one side l the words. confederate states or | America" above d shield upon which
 are seven stars, above the shield cap ! borne on d pike. The reverse side
 of the coin bears a figure of Liberty
 with thirteen stars above, ana the
 date of mintage below. This coin has | aroused much interest, and the ques- 1 tion has been generally asked: bid | the Confectionery ever com silver mon | ey?"
 The coin was given Dr. Ragsdale by a friend, Dr. s. E. Grout who was Tn New York during the summer and re
 ceived it in change" lie was or fered $30 for it by coin dealer but
 brought it home with him and gave it to his friend.
 Dr. Ragsdale being desirous of get ting information to the history Of his coin wrote me in regard to an ar
 ticle from The New York Tribune which l had read at a meeting of the Thursday Club some three years ago. Thinking the information which it
 gives is of general interest to all Southern people. l give the substance of the article using quotation marks when the quotation is literal. The
 date of the paper is not known, but 1t Is probably about 1900
 There are doubtless few people. out
 side of the circle of coin collectors who know that there were four sil- yer half dollars coined by the Confed- crate government in 1861. Of these
 coins only one Is now known to ex- ist, being, at the time this article was printed. the property of a coin dealer
 of New York City, MT. J. ". Scott, who values it at one thousand dollars. The obNerse side of this coin is the
 same as that of the usual half dollar, having the Goddess of Liberty seated, and the date. For the reverse side, however, a new die was prepared. hay
 ing in the center a shield bearing the stars and Bars of the Confederacy,
 seven starS--representing the seven state which at that time had seeded. A liberty pole thrust through the shield bears a cap on its tip. of stalk of sugar cane and cotton branch. Above this are the words, "Confederate States of America. ana beneath the words. Half Dol
 The history of this coin and its three counterparts is interesting. In February. 1861, the Confederates had possession of the United States mint at New Orleans. The Confederate gov ernment. then seated at Montgomery, Ala, decided to have some new dies made, and to start coinage of it's own at the mint, It was determined to begin the series with the silver half dollar, In April, MT. Memminger, Secretary of the Treasury, of the Con- federacy, having issued call for de- signs. selected the one above de scribed. The die was made by A. H. Peterson of New Orleans, and four coins were struck as specimen pieces, under the direction of Dr. B. F. Fay Tor, chief coiner for the Confederate states of America
 The southern government. however. was obliged to abandon the idea of coining money, as they were wholly without silver bullion, and April 3O 1881. the mint was closed. being but few days after the sample coins wore struck. Of these four coins "one was sent to the government. one to Prof Riddell of the University of Louisiana. one to Dr, F.. Ames. of New Orleans, and the fourth, together with the die was kept by pr. Taylor This IS the coin now in New York. having been sold. with the die, by pr. Taylor m 1872 to Mir. scott. Three or four years later the latter sold it at pub l' auction for sS7o. Some years after ward Nr. Scott again bought it in lare" collection which was offered for sale
 one of the coins. probably the one