The 1804 Private Restrike Cents

Draped Bust Cent, 1804 1C Private Restrike, RD, PCGS MS66+RD. Click image to enlarge.

The United States Large Cents have been among the most popular numismatic collectibles since the hobby began building momentum as a significant pastime in America during the mid-19th century. Collector desire to build complete date sets of Large Cents pushed the prices of the scarcest issues high early on, with the 1804 Draped Bust Cent then among the priciest of coins.

Bearing a mintage of only 96,500 pieces and with an estimated 1,000 specimens existing today, it’s clear that attrition was very high for these early American copper coins, leaving but a small total supply for collectors even more than 150 years ago. Further illustrating this fact is the lack of any examples of the 1804 date in RD or even RB and only one specimen in MS60 or better, suggesting almost none of these Large Cents was spared from circulation, let alone the grueling effects of the time.

Today, the 1804 Draped Bust Cent retains its status as a rare and expensive coin, with specimens even in G4 condition trading hands for around $2,350 and XF40 examples claiming $22,500, according to PCGS CoinFacts. The record price for an 1804 Draped Bust Cent is $661,250, which was hammered upon a PCGS MS63BN specimen that crossed the block at a 2009 Goldbergs auction. Surely, the 1804 Draped Bust Cent was comparatively expensive by mid-19th-century standards, pushing at least one enterprising individual to privately restrike examples of this rarity – presumably without the authorization of the United States Mint.

It’s reported the U.S. Mint discarded a load of scrap metal around 1833 that included an 1803 Large Cent obverse die and 1820 Large Cent reverse die, the latter originating during the Coronet Head Cent (1816-1839) series that superseded both the Draped Bust and the Classic Head Cent series (1808-1814). These two dies were muled to create a private restrike issue bearing an 1804 date, an alteration made on the last digit of the date on the 1803 obverse die.

Who masterminded the 1804 Large Cent restrikes and where they were made remains unknown. However, many numismatists believe they were struck around 1860 and may have been the creation of collector Joseph J. Mickley. If the name rings a bell, it’s because Mickley is tied to an iconic piece of numismatic history. He was the second collector to ever buy an 1804 Draped Bust Dollar, accomplishing the feat in a trade with bank teller Henry C. Young around 1858 – some 15 years after Matthew Stickney became the first private collector to 1804 Draped Bust Dollar to claim the coin.

Other venerable numismatists whose names are linked (in hypotheses, anyway) to the 1804 Restrike Cent are coin dealer Edward W. Cogan, and collectors Dr. Montroville W. Dickeson and Captain John W. Haseltine – both of whom were known to have made facsimiles of other coins. Over the years, some numismatic scholars have also suggested the 1804 Restrikes were clandestinely struck at the United States Mint by unscrupulous players – a common situation under the tutelage of United States Mint Director Henry R. Linderman, who held that post from 1867 through 1869 and again from 1873 through 1878.

The mystique behind the dark origins of the 1804 Restrike only helps add to the allure this piece holds for collectors, who now find this pseudo-fantasy coin to be nearly as scarce as the genuine article it emulates. Several varieties exist, including copper pieces and specimens struck on a white metal, with the latter tin pieces proving extraordinarily rare. These restrikes share common major die cracks concentrated in the lower left-hand side of the obverse, with one prominent break running a jagged arc from the rim at approximately the 9 o’clock position down to the rim at the 6 o’clock spot. Other minor die breaks as well as heavy die pitting are evident across the obverse and reverse of the coin.

Patterns, 1804 Res 1C J-28 White Metal Private Restrike, PCGS MS63. Click image to enlarge.

The 1804 Draped Bust Cent Restrikes in copper generally run from about $500 in the middle-circulated grades to more than $1,000 in uncirculated, with MS63BN specimens trending for around $1,300 and MS65BN examples fetching closer to $2,200, according to PCGS CoinFacts. As with all classic copper pieces, pieces in the RB and RD grades take significantly more, with no exceptions for this private restrike. An MS65RB commands $3,250 while the more elusive MS66RD goes for approximately $9,500. One copper restrike graded PCGS MS66+RD took $10,575 in a 2017 Stack’s Bowers Galleries offering. Meanwhile, one of the very few 1804 Draped Bust Cent Restrikes in white metal took $31,200, crossing the block as a PCGS MS63 during a 2020 Goldberg Auctioneers sale.

Sources

• Breen, Walter. Walter Breen’s Complete Encyclopedia of US and Colonial Coins. Doubleday, 1988.
• Lupia, John M. “John W. Haseltine.” Numismatic Mall. Accessed January 4, 2021.
• Roach, Steve. “Class I 1804 Dollar Realizes $3.87 Million.” Coin World. August 18, 2013. Accessed January 4, 2021.