CW. writes: My father had a WEB DuBois half dollar. I can’t find any information about it. Please advise. Thanks.
The DuBois family was involved with the Philadelphia Mint from the early days of the United States. You may be referring to William Ewing Dubois who authored Pledges of History: a Brief Account of the Collection of Coins Belonging to the Mint of the United States in 1846. The Dubois and Eckfeldt families were part of the “dynasty” of Mint workers that ran the Mint and sometimes surreptitiously minted coins for their own uses. You may be referring to one of the Dubois, Eckfeldt concoctions or simply a reference in one of their books.
Both William and Patterson Dubois are associated with restrikes of the 1801, 1803 and 1804 dollars and these later fabrications were peddled by Theodore Eckfeldt in 1858. See also: A Manual of gold and silver Coins of All Nations Struck Within the Past Century by Jacob Reese Eckfeldt and William Ewing DuBois and New varieties of Gold and Silver Coins, Counterfeit Coins and Bullion: with Mint Values by the same authors published c. 1850.
