1961 CSA Copper 1C Bashlow Restrike Token NGC MS67 RD. This one cent copper, Confederate Bashlow Restrike Token is in superb mint red condition. The piece was struck from rusted, defaced dies and so it exhibits lumps on the obverse where there was rust and chisel and scratch marks on the reverse. The coin is bright and lustrous with a sharp strike, which shows all the details of Liberty’s hair and the design details of the reverse. In addition to the rust lumps and chisel marks, there are numerous die cracks in the coin on both sides. These were from the original die that was starting to break as the coins were first struck.

Robert Lovett, Jr. made the original dies. The obverse shows a portrait of Liberty facing left wearing a Phrygian cap. She is surrounded by the inscription CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA with the date, 1861, below. The reverse shows an open wreath of cotton, corn, tobacco, maple, and wheat, with two barrels and a cotton bale signed L for Lovett encircling the denomination, which is written as 1 CENT.

Robert Bashlow made restrikes of the 1861 CSA cent. In fear of his life because he was a northerner who made dies for the South, Lovett kept the dies’ existence secret. Eventually they came into Bashlow’s possession, and he used them to make restrikes in celebration on the Centennial in 1961. In 1970 Bashlow presented the dies to the Smithsonian Institution.