1801 Draped Bust Large Cent Reverse Die Clash

Description

Struck during the earliest decades of the United States Mint’s operations, this 1801 Draped Bust Large Cent exhibits a die clash on the reverse where the face of Liberty from the obverse die has been transferred as an incuse impression next to the wreath — a ghost-like mirror image of the portrait created when the obverse and reverse dies struck each other without a planchet between them, each die receiving an impression of the opposing design in reverse. Die clashes occurred frequently in early American coinage because the manual press operation relied on individual planchet placement between the dies, and any failure to properly feed a blank before the dies closed resulted in direct die-to-die contact. The 1801 Large Cent had a mintage of 1,362,837 pieces, making it a moderately available date in the Draped Bust series (1796–1807), though examples with visible die clashes are considerably scarcer than normal strikes. Designed by Robert Scot, likely after a portrait attributed to Gilbert Stuart, the Draped Bust design features Liberty with flowing hair gathered by a ribbon on the obverse and a laurel wreath encircling the denomination on the reverse. Struck at the Philadelphia Mint in pure copper, each large cent weighs approximately 10.89 grams with a diameter of 29 mm, making it one of the largest circulating copper denominations in American numismatic history. The early copper coinage period was characterized by entirely hand-engraved or hand-hubbed dies, manual screw presses, and individual piece-by-piece striking, creating production conditions where die clashes were a recurring operational hazard rather than an exceptional event.

Attribution History

• Discovered by NumisDexDealer