The story of the creation and discovery of the Confederate cent is one of the most misunderstood in numismatics. Dated 1861, the first yearof the American Civil War, the coin is the same size and appears to be the same composition as the U.S. Indian Head cent of the same year.

The coin's obverse image of Liberty (sometimes called "French Liberty") is unlike that on any cent circulated by the United States; however, it is identical to the image used by die-sinker Robert Lovett Jr. (1824-79) to create trade tokens he made for himself and coin dealer William Idler (1808-1901). The obverse also bears the legend CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

The reverse displays a wreath of corn, cotton and tobacco, with two barrels and a cotton bale along the bottom. Within the wreath is the denomination, 1 CENT. The letter "L" on the bale identifies Lovett as the designer. The coin was struck in "medal turn" (side-to-side rotation) as opposed to the standard "coin turn" (top-to-bottom rotation).

As far as we know, the coins' connection with the Confederate government is undocumented. It has been speculated that Lovett, who had done work for Bailey & Company of Philadelphia, had been asked to create dies for a proposed cent coinage for the Confederacy through the Pennsylvania firm. Again, no documentation exists to support this assumption.

I believe one of two events prompted Lovett to produce the Confederate cent: either he was contacted by a Southern sympathizer, or he thought he could entice the Confederate government to purchase dies for a cent coinage.

The Discovery
Numismatist John W. Haseltine (1838-1925) took credit for discovering the Confederate cent, and mentioned that Lovett had inadvertently spent one at a tavern in Philadelphia. However, he never provided concrete details of either claim. Interestingly, numismatic auction catalogs provide the most accurate information about the Confederate cent and its discovery.

Two sales in particular-Haseltine's auction on January 13-15, 1874 (Lot 665) and S.H. & H. Chapman's auction on November 27-28, 1891 (Lot 823)-reveal how the coin became available to the collecting public and who was involved. The catalog for the latter describes the true discovery of the Confederate cent and indicates Haseltine had nothing to do with it.

The numismatic world had all but forgotten Haseltine's original story until I presented an exhibit at the American Numismatic Association's 1992 convention in Orlando, Florida, entitled "Auction Catalogues as Sources of Information." Among the items I displayed was a copy of Haseltine's 1874 catalog, along with his description of the Confederate cent:

CONFEDERATE CENT
[Lot] 665 1861; head of Liberty; inscription, "Confederate States of America; rev., "1 Cent," in 2 lines, surrounded by a Wreath of ears of corn and wheat, with a cotton bale at the bottom; nickel; very fine; excessively rare.

For more information on the American Numismatic Association, see:
www.money.org

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
MORE ON THE LOVETT CONFEDERATE CENT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n28a09.html)