A number of them are now in his cabinet among which is that very scarce number, the halfpenny of 1811. - Unknown author, on dies owned by Joseph J. Mickley, manuscript notes written ca. 1859-61, now in the American Numismatic Society LibraryDespite being struck decades after the date it bears, the 1811 Restrike half cent has been a prime rarity since the 19th century. It bears little resemblance to an 1811 half cent struck at the Philadelphia Mint. The most obvious difference is the reverse die, which clearly belongs to an earlier half cent type. Less obvious is that the die was last used in 1802, giving this issue an ironic twist: the old, rusted obverse from the rarest date among 19th century half cents is paired with an old, rusted reverse from the second rarest date in the series. The distinctive rust stands out, seemingly unchanged from the moment these two dies were discovered in a cellar under the old Mint. While the dies seem to have been secreted fairly soon after their last use, they sat and rusted for decades before they found their way into the hands of Joseph J. Mickley. At the time Mickley was not only the dean of Philadelphia numismatists, but also one of the most notable coin collectors in the entire nation.Mickleys collection of dies was found after his death in February 1878. Philadelphia coin dealer Ebenezer Locke Mason, Jr. cataloged the dies, among other Mickley estate leftovers, for his November 1878 auction. Lot 912 was described as "1811 2 Hubs; obv. and rev. United States Half Cent; rev. slightly damaged on edge." Orosz and Augsburgers Secret History of the First U.S. Mint records that "O.C. Bosbyshell, the Mint coiner, reported that they were in fact dies" rather than hubs. Bosbyshell may have been among the officers of the U.S. Mint who confiscated the dies before the sale, paying Mickleys estate what they determined to be fair market value. Philadelphia collector Robert Coulton Davis recalled the Mickley dies as being "mostly in damaged and corroded condition." He noted they didnt even include "a complete pair of obverse and reverse dies," as "the obverse die of the half-cent of 1811 was muled with the reverse die of a different year."Several of the dies had been put into use by Mickley, or perhaps by others on his behalf, probably in the late 1850s. Restrikes of two scarce dates in the large cent series were struck, dated 1804 and 1823, though the "1804" restrikes were actually produced by altering an 1803 obverse. Restrikes of 1810 cents were also struck, but as genuine specimens of that date are common, only a tiny number of tin restrikes were made.Most estimates of the known population of 1811 Restrike half cents guess that about a dozen are known. The fact that most are unworn and look essentially identical in a black and white photograph makes establishing provenance chains difficult, so that number could be a few too high or a few too low. Most survivors are lustrous brown Uncs. The only one to show as much red as this one is also the only one graded higher: the Missouri Cabinet specimen. The tiny spot between CA of AMERICA serves as this coins only flaw and a ready link to its provenance, a net positive to be sure. With mostly red surfaces barely mellowed to gold in the fields and lustrous reflectivity that emerges from among the raised rust pits on both sides, this example shows uncommonly fine eye appeal for the issue. Its provenance extends back to before 1936, when this piece was precisely the same age that a copy of the 1941 Dunham sale catalog is now.
