In
Q. David Bowers’ 1996 book,
Enthusiast’s Guide to Flying Eagle and Indian Cents extensive notes regarding
these coins were presented. In light of Chris’ (Pilliod) study and the fact that no actual coins exist from these die
combinations, Bowers concluded that these clashed dies were not the product of
surreptitious behavior at the Mint at all*. It was suggested that these were
caused by accident during the changing of the dies during normal coinage
production.
*
After I (Rick Snow) first identified
the 1857 Flying Eagle cent with clash marks on the obverse die from the obverse
die for a Liberty Seated half dollar in 1977, I attributed the probable cause
of the clash marks to the nocturnal play time of the Mint’s night watchman,
Theodore Eckfeldt, who was known to have made and sold several plain-edged 1804
silver dollars c.1858. I suspect that Eckfeldt actually did make our
hypothetical cent/quarter, cent/half and cent/double eagle mules in 1857, since
several of the dies were later used for normal business strikes, but that the
pieces never became known in the hobby as he may not yet have worked up the
nerve to attempt to sell them.
The above exurbs were taken from Rick Snow's book " The Flying Eagle & Indian Cent Attribution Guide; on-line Edition 2011
