(1961) CSA 1C Bashlow Restrike, Bronze, BN (Regular Strike)

P. Scott Rubin: The 1861 One Cent Confederate States of America Bashlow Restrike in Copper is a modern copy of the Original Confederate Cent created in 1861 by Philadelphia engraver Robert Lovett. The coin has a very odd appearance since it was made from dies copied from the originals that had been defaced in the 1870’s by John Haseltine. It looks like Haseltine used a chisel and hammer to deface much of the coin but still left it recognizable. The Bashlow Restrikes made from the copy dies have raised lines and bumps on the surfaces.

What makes this coin interesting to collectors is that this is probably as close as most collectors will get to owning an Original Confederate One Cent coin since only approximately fifteen original coins were struck in copper-nickel. Mr. Haseltine was involved with using the original dies to create restrikes of the Confederate Cent in 1874. These Restrikes, which were made before the dies were defaced, were struck in three metals in limited numbers: 55 in Copper, 12 in Silver and 7 in Gold. I have found it interesting that these numbers add up to 74 which match 1874 the year in which they were struck. Today these 1st restrikes are quite rare, making the Bashlow Restrikes the only version of the Confederate Cent most collectors can afford.

Robert Bashlow had copy dies created from the original dies. It was these copy dies from which his restrikes were made in a number of metals and formats. The most common of these is the Copper (Bronze) restrike of which 20,000 pieces were struck. He also made large numbers of copies struck in Brass (Goldine) and Silver: 5,000 of each were struck. Fifty copies each of the Bashlow Restrike CSA Cent were also struck in the following metals: Nickel-Silver, Lead, Aluminum, Tin, Zinc and Red Fiber (a type of plastic). A few more copies were struck in Gold and Platinum: the number of each struck is reported to be three. The original dies were given to the Smithsonian Institute by Robert Bashlow after his resrikes were sold.