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 The
history of the Re-creation of the Confederate States Mint
came from Founder & current President Bruce C. Elrod. In
1999 Bruce came up with an idea for Ridgeway, South Carolina's
bicentennial. Kennecott, the largest gold mine east of the
Mississippi River was operating in Ridgeway and extracting
significant gold and silver deposits from the two open pit
mines. The idea to produce a coin made out of 100% South
Carolina gold and silver from Ridgeway for it's celebration
became a reality. 306 gold,1800 silver and 500 bronze coins
were made.
In 2004 these coins have become highly collectable and
worth much more than the issue price. A couple of years
went by and in the summer of 2002 Bruce was intrigued by
the idea of keeping the coin idea alive. A coin collector
himself and history buff, Bruce was a member of the John
Bratton Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Ridgeway.
His ancestor David W. Thomas fought as a private for four
years in the "War of Northern Aggression" and was a POW
at Elmira, NY. He took the oath of allegiance in 1865 and
returned to his home in Edgefield SC where he lived till
his death in 1892. The original Confederate Printing Plant
is located 20 miles south in Columbia, South Carolina, The
Capital. It is a historical site and is now the Publix Supermarket
chain. Publix went to great lengths to preserve the historical
integrity of the building.
Confederate coinage is extremely rare and the idea for producing
commemorative replicas of the original half dollar and cent
intrigued Bruce. In October 2002 Bruce enlisted best friend
John O. Ehrenclou and an interesting investment developed
in the reestablishing of The Confederate States Mint LLC.
John was introduced because his parents owned Sarsfield and
he was raised there as a child. Sarsfield was the original
home of Mary Boykin Chestnut the author of "A Diary from  Dixie".
John and Bruce set up the backbone to run the mint and Christopher
J. Elrod (son of Bruce) ran the computers. They produced a
limited number of coins in one oz. silver and they sold out
in two days. They had produced 100 more and sold out again
in two days. It was then that they had realized that this
was a viable business venture.
A week went by and AP (associated press) picked up on the
story and it went worldwide. The rest is history. Not only
did they sell thousands of "silver dollar halfs" but gold
one oz. half dollars too. The computers were lit up night
& day and the coins sold all over the globe. The success led
to the pressing of the Confederate Cent which was issued in
all 4 alloys, exactly like the original (silver nickle and
the three alloy restrikes , gold silver and copper). Due to
health problems John retired in December 2003. He was proud
of the success the mint had acquired in such a short time.
Bruce and cousin J.C. McFadden helped keep the business steady
till April 2004.
New projects emerged. Bruce, who's cousin is the late Senator
Strom Thurmond decided to issue a commemorative coin of Essie
Mae Washington-Williams, Strom's biracial daughter who kept
their secret until December 2003. A portion of the proceeds
from the sale of this coin will go to a scholarship fund for
needy students, to attend college. Other Commemorative coins
have followed, the 1925 Stone Mountain Half, the 1936 Gettysburg
half, the ultra rare copy of the 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter
and 1937 three legged buffalo nickel. Other projects are in
the works.
We maintain the highest quality in our minting process.
You get high cameo relief commemorative replica coins, made
from 100% gold, silver, or bronze. All coins carry the "R"
mintmark. If you are interested in the CSM minting coins
for your community, organization or any other project contact
us. We only produce pure bullion coinage. We do not
make or produce fake colored metal coins seen in numerous
TV ads. If you waste your money on novelty items, you get
what you pay for.
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