1818 Cent Pattern - J-45

Coin Details

Auction Record

$43,200 MS63 02-19-2020 Goldberg Auctioneers

Description

Cataloged as Judd-45 (Pollock-6210, R.8), this remarkable curiosity is a muling of unrelated dies struck over an existing coin. The obverse die originally produced 1818 Browning-2 quarter dollars, while the reverse die was used for 1818 Newcomb-8 and N-10 large cents. Both dies exhibit extensive rust from years in storage. The piece was struck in silver over an 1860 Seated Liberty quarter, with the host coin's reeded edge still partially visible though flattened by the overstrike. The 1860 date of the underlying quarter can be seen inverted between the wreath and TES of STATES on the reverse, and doubling from multiple strikes is evident in the reverse lettering. The maker of this apparently unique piece remains undocumented, though Dr. Montroville W. Dickeson and Joseph J. Mickley are the leading candidates — both were known to have acquired retired Mint dies during the mid-nineteenth century. The coin must have been produced between 1860 (the date on the host quarter) and March 1862 (its first recorded auction appearance), placing its creation before other well-known private restrikes such as the 1804 and 1823 restrike cents. There is little consensus on what to call this piece. It has been variously described as a "private restrike," a "restrike made outside the mint from dies sold as scrap," a "silver curiosity," and simply a mismatch from retired dies. Regardless of terminology, it is an extraordinarily rare artifact of nineteenth-century numismatic enterprise. The piece was illustrated in Adams-Woodin (as AW-31), multiple editions of the Judd reference, in Pollock, and in Tompkins, and was exhibited at the 1914 ANS Exhibition as the property of Judson Brenner of Youngstown, Ohio.