MORE ON FAKE CONFEDERATE ID DISCS

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The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 39, September 24, 2017, Article 7

MORE ON FAKE CONFEDERATE ID DISCS

Alan V. Weinberg writes:

The fantasy CSA engraved US coin Confederate dog tags have been around now for easily 30 years. They come on cast counterfeit seated half dollars and seated dollars and there are approximately 4 or 5 varieties with similar "hand engraved" recipient name and ranks but always crude CSA engraved in the center.

I distinctly recall several decades ago first seeing one in Joe Levine's PCAC auction catalogue shortly after seeing one at a flea market. Joe promptly withdrew it. Even John Ford called me to get my opinion on one of these. I told him that even the coin was a cast counterfeit, a fact he had not realized.

Author Peter Bertram submitted this note reminding us about his booklet on the Fantasy Confederate ID Tags. Thanks! -Editor

I wrote a little 13-page booklet about these bad boys back in 2002, complete with illustrations and diagnostics of eight specimens I’d encountered (I think I’ve still got ‘em around here somewhere). They were all castings, possibly coin silver, and all had differences in their vertical and horizontal axes, giving them a slightly oval appearance.

Specifically, the half-dollar size fakes were Capt Nathan Boone, 12th Kentucky || Robert F. Bunting, 5th Texas Cavalry || Lt. William M. Forrest, no rgt noted || Thomas Taylor, 5th Louisiana || A.L.P. Vairin, Second Mississippi Vol. || Lt James B. Washington, no rgt noted. The dollar size fakes were Col. Joseph Mayo, 3rd Va. Inf and Lt. Col. Dorsey Pender, 1st North Carolina Regiment. At the time a "General Dorsey Pender" disc was rumored but I could never seem to run one down so I mention the fake but can’t confirm it actually existed.

I find it quite interesting that these apparently still not very well known fake Confederate ID Discs are still showing up in the collector marketplace. In addition to Dave Schenkman's TAMs article, my little Fake Confederate ID Discs was sold in booklet form, reviewed in Antique and Collectors Reproduction News, North South Trader's Civil War, The Virginia Numismatist, our esteemed E-Sylum, in a Coin World article, and it's still available at www.ConfederateNumismatica.com for a measly $5.

To order, see: https://confederatenumismatica.com/products/fake-confederate-id-discs

Peter adds:

I don't have a lot of copies left - maybe a couple dozen or so - so rather than reprint it I just added it as the last pages of my Confederate Numismatica, Part 1.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
FAKE CONFEDERATE ID DISCS REVIEWED (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v08n43a04.html)
ON FAKE CONFEDERATE ID DISCS (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v08n44a19.html)
WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: SEPTEMBER 17, 2017 (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n38a29.html)
A FANTASY CONFEDERATE ID TAG (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n38a30.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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