Back in 2014 I had a chance to go to the ANA Money Museum which is in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They opened the case to one of their exhibits and allowed me to take photos of the dies that were used to strike the 1823 Restrike Cents. The 1823 is a semi-key date in the large cent series. The coin is hard to find in attractive condition. Even pieces in "no problem VF" are tough. Back in the 19th century the mint sold some of its dies as scrap metal. When they fell into the "wrong hands." some people made coins with them. The 1823 Restrike large cent is one such coin. Here are the dies, cracked and rusted. And here is an example of the 1823 Restrike cent. I took these pictures from the PCGS "Coin Facts" site. I don't own an example of this coin.
I had read that these dies still existed, but I had never found pictures of the dies. Thank you for posting them! It’s very cool to actually get to see a die crack on the die itself.
You also get to see how a die imparts cuds on a coin. The cuds are above the fifth, sixth and seventh stars. If you look at that area of the die, you will see that the rim of the die has broken off the tool.
You can also see the impact of a die crack on the die. On the obverse die, look at the crack that goes off to the left - that crack is all the way up the shoulder, through the body of the die. A few more strikes and that thing would have crumbled!
Amazing coin and you can still find them for pretty cheap too! Right at a grand https://www.ebay.com/itm/1823-Restrike-Matron-or-Coronet-Head-Large-Cent-Coin-1c/264268042610?hash=item3d879a5172:g:5qkAAOSwphhcpPV1
The civil war token is a great coin. It has the fantastic die cracks on the obverse, the reverse shows a very strong die clash with the obv. So strong in fact that the die cracks from the obverse are visible on the reverse if you look carefully. Crack clashes!
