1 Cent Private Restrike Mule

This mule pairs dies that were never intended to share a collar — a deliberate act of experimentation or, more likely, someone at the Mint exploiting unsupervised access to the die room. Private restrikes of this period are closely associated with a circle of collectors and insiders operating in the 1850s–1870s, when Mint employees — most notoriously Theodore Eckfeldt — produced unauthorized pieces from original and altered dies. The silver composition places it firmly in that restrike tradition, as no authorized cent of 1818 would have been struck in silver.

Pollock's catalog lists fewer than a handful of confirmed specimens.