A SELECTION OF CONTEMPORARY COUNTERFEIT BUST HALF-DOLLARS

Lots 95-113

A Quick Introduction to Bogus Busties

Fifty cents was serious money in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The half-dollar represented an average days’ wage and the counterfeiting community was quick to take note.

With motive in place work began – in the United States, Canada, Mexico and perhaps other countries. The efforts were mostly amateurish, even comical. The populace, however, was unsophisticated, uneducated and often illiterate. Federal coinage was scarce and foreign coins continued to circulate alongside issues from the Philadelphia Mint. Most counterfeiters made their own dies. Others prepared cast copies from genuine coins. Efforts to pass bogus bust half-dollars into commerce continued into the 1840s, perhaps later. The peak production period was undoubtedly the 1830s.

In 1996 Keith Davignon published today’s standard reference work on these fabulous fabrications, Contemporary Counterfeit Capped Bust Half Dollars. This wonderful book presented us with history, anecdotes, photos and a year by year listing of the known counterfeits. Keith identified 188 “varieties” of bogus busties.

Many “old time collectors” had already assembled collections of contemporary counterfeits. Keith’s book had a ready audience. In the years to follow more counterfeit bust half-dollar die varieties popped up. A 2nd edition became necessary to update, depict and describe the expanding population. In 2010, with a die variety population exceeding 330, a 2nd edition appeared. It was a joint effort of Keith, Rick Irons, Mark Glazer, Brad Karoleff, David Kahn, Larry Schmidt and a new organization founded in 2009, the Contemporary Counterfeit Capped Bust Half Collectors Club, "ccCBHcc" for short. Its web site is here.

The following 19 lots are duplicates from Mark Glazer’s unrivaled reference collection of contemporary counterfeit bust half dollars. His prime set includes 289 pieces! It was built in the years following 1996, beginning with the purchase (from your cataloguer) of the entire Davignon Collection. Soon thereafter Glazer augmented his holdings by acquiring other notable collections, including early BHNC members Charles "Chuck" Erb, Mike Summers and Charlton "Swampy" Meyer, Jr. Nearly all of the coins plated in Davignon’s 1st and 2nd editions are from the Glazer Collection.

The composition of these counterfeits is often described as “base metal.” This includes lead, billon and German silver. Winston Zack, a confessed addict of contemporary counterfeits, was kind enough to subject each of the following lots to X-ray fluorescence, hereafter XRF. This process involves the non-destructive bombardment of a sample with X-rays or Gamma rays. Analysis of the emitted ionized atoms enables the scientist to determine the composition of the metal being tested.

Few contemporary counterfeits of the Flowing Hair or Draped Bust design are known. Remarkably, two are offered here, lots 95 and 96. These are caviar for the collector. Each is part of a storied history involving numismatic notables John J. Ford and Don Taxay as well as the American Numismatic Society and Coin World. Allow me to reproduce my cataloguing effort of Feb. 1999. Lot 229 in MB 23 was the “1878” 7x8 stars D-3B offered in this sale as lot 96.

 

229. “187(8)” Flowing Hair, Stars 7x8, Fine. In November 1950 John Ford presented an anecdotal account of a 1787 Flowing Hair Half-Dollar in Wayte Raymond’s house publication, The Coin Collector’s Journal (Vol. 17, No.6 Nov.-Dec. 1950, p.111). A member of the Naugatuck Valley Numismatic Ass’n brought the coin to a meeting of the New York Numismatic Club. Ford was there. He borrowed the piece and began an investigation. He characterized the piece as a “very unusual and … somewhat crude attempt at copying a genuine 1794 or 95 coin.” Ford remarked, “Even a casual glance would impress upon the observer that the … coin did not originate at the U.S. Mint. Undoubtedly it was intended as a counterfeit, but because of the odd date, we must call it a fabrication.” The coin weighed-in at 204 grains, just 4 grains short of standard for the 1794-95 half-dollars. Ford concluded that it was made of “a base mixture with heavy traces of copper,” adding that it “rings like a bell.” Ford hied himself over to the ANS. His friend and curator, Dick Kinney, pulled out a similar specimen. Ford found the metal and edge lettering nearly identical to his borrowed piece. “The die work was slightly different, even though the general fabric was highly comparable….” The ANS specimen weighed 205 grains and, like the coin offered here, had … only part of a date, that being ‘187.’ The boys that cut this particular die probably intended to make the date 1787, but became confused with their figures. The ANS coin still resides with the Society. Ford included a picture of it in his essay. Here it is.

A dozen years later (April 1962) Coin World stunned the Numismatic community with a nearly full-page article on a 1787 Pattern Half-Dollar which, according to its owner – and Coin World – had been authenticated in every respect. This was too much for students of the day, including Don Taxay. Don took pen in hand and with tongue in cheek he chided the owner for undue modesty. The find was not merely “one of the greatest finds in numismatic history.” It was, said Taxay, “THE greatest, [at least] since the 1650 Pine Tree shilling!” (Another well known fake.) Taxay put the counterfeit (fabricated?) 1787 on the cover of his 1976 masterwork, COUNTERFEIT MIS-STRUCK AND UNOFFICIAL U.S. COINS.

Two other 1787 counterfeits have passed through my hands. At the 1996 Denver ANA Convention I purchased an example from Alan Weinberg (of Massachusetts Silver collecting fame). An identical (but lower grade) coin was consigned to MB Sale 21 (lot 283), April 1988. The piece here offered is from the same dies as the ANS “187” specimen. This one recently popped up in an Arizona coin shop. I’ve not heard of another. The edged is lettered; it weighs light, 170 grains (vs. standard of 208); the stars are aligned 7x8 (should be 8x7; N.B., the star alignment of Taxay’s plated coin is 8x6!); and the composition appears identical to that encountered by Ford in 1950 – base metal with heavy traces of copper. The silver wash is very thin. The coin has a vaguely gold cast to it. Oh yes … the obverse is double struck! The date, letters, stars and point of bust are doubled. The centers are soft, esp. Liberty’s chin. The stars and legend are sharp. In sum – a GREAT coin!