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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 4602131, member: 101855"]The Coin World author makes a point when he says that there would not have been time in 1816 to have prepared the dies. Yet, the 1816 dies could have been prepared in 1815, and used as soon as the shipment of planchets was received from England. The limiting factor is concept of die rust. Many Philadelphia dies rusted in the humid climate during the 17 and 18 hundreds. This problem continued into the 1850s and beyond. I am not aware of ever seeing an 1814 cent with a lot of die rust. The S-295 is known with extensive die crumbling but not rust. It may have been properly stored, taken out of mothballs and used in 1816 where it was pushed to its limits. On the other hand, maybe the dies for the S-295, 1814 cent, were useless at the end of 1814 and retired. John Wright, who posted above, states in his book that the 1816 dies were made in 1815 and ready for work. Therefore the coins released in 1816 were all dated that year and had the new design. Nobody knows for sure, but given the limited production at the U.S. Mint in 1815, Robert Scot would have had plenty of time on his hands to produce new dies.[/QUOTE]