1811-P Classic Head

  • Category
    Classic Head
  • Design
    Early Copper Half Penny (1809-1836)
  • Year
    1811
  • Mint
    Philadelphia
  • Mintage
    63,140
  • Designer
    John Reich
  • Composition
    100% Copper
  • Diameter
    23.5mm
  • Weight
    5.44g
Known variants:
Close Date

One variety of the 1811 Classic Head Half Cent (Penny) features a close date on the obverse of the coin. The numbers are slightly closer together. Most notable is the first "1" in the 1811 date is closer to the left of the "8" and is aligned slightly lower when compared to the wide date variety.

Reverse of 1802 - Unofficial Restrike

One particularly interesting and extremely rare variety of the 1811 Classic Head Half Cent (Penny) is the unofficial restrike featuring the reverse of 1802. This coin was not struck by the US Mint. Instead a man named Joseph J. Mickley privately struck the coins using muled dies. Mickley obtained the dies when the US Mint sold him the broken rusted dies as scrap metal in 1816. Using muling (combining different coin dies that were never meant to be together) - Mickely used a rusted 1811 obverse die with a rusted 1802 reverse die to produce lower quality restrikes. Only about 12 or so were estimated to have been produced.

Wide Date

One variety of the 1811 Classic Head Half Cent (Penny) features a wide date on the obverse of the coin. The numbers are slightly spread out wider than normal. Most notable is the first "1" in the 1811 date is further away to the left of the "8" and is aligned higher.