The regular dies trial piece. Examples were struck as follows: Silver-copper J407/P477 This is an experimental piece using the regular two cent dies struck on a planchet containing both silver and copper supposedly from native Michigan ore. I believe the first mention of this is in the 1890 Parmelee sale. Most examples show primarily copper with streaks of silver. We have been able to trace the following 8 examples. All of these appear to have been struck from an obverse die where the ball of the shield is over the 6 in the date. To see images of all of these, click here. 1) Reed-Durham Museum – ICG60, obverse mostly silver, reverse mostly copper, the first coin illustrated at the top of this page Photo from the Byron Reed Collection; owned by the City of Omaha, Nebraska; on loan to The Durham Museum. 2) Dr Judd, unknown intermediates, Superior 5/91, Superior 10/91, Superior 2/92, Simpson-Heritage 1/21 FUN – PCGS62, the Judd 1st – 7th edition plate coin, fully copper on the obverse and mostly silver on the reverse, it is the second coin illustrated at the top of this page Click on the thumbnail image to enlarge both coins. 3) An example graded PCGS62 on PCGS.com/CoinFacts 4) Kagins 7/53, B/M 6/96, Heritage 8/07 ANA, Heritage 8/25 ANA – PCGS63 5) Century-Paramount 4/65, Superior Auction 82, Simpson-Heritage 2/21 – PCGS60 6) H.P. Smith 1/1883, Garrett-JHU, Garrett II-B/R 3/80 – proof 60 7) B/R 11/74, NERCA 12/76 – proof 60 8) Burke sometime in the 1930s, B/M 5/94 – proof 60 The other off-metal pieces listed below were more than likely deliberately made for sale to collectors. Copper J408. This is unlisted in Pollock. Several have been slabbed by the grading services while others are probably masquerading as regular issue proofs. Several of these - we have records for about 9 - were struck either in copper or regular bronze and then were silverplated. These were listed as J409B in earlier editions of Judd. The reason for the silverplating is not known. Those with the silverplating appear to all be from the same plain 5 obverse die used to strike regular proofs with the ball at the bottom of the shield centered over the 6 in date and with 4 die chips that appear as raised blobs of metal near WE in IN GOD WE TRUST as illustrated below. Other examples of this die trial, that are not silverplated are from a different die with the ball at the bottom of the shield under the left edge of the 6 in date and without the die chips. These also use the reverse with the incomplete D in United which means these could be novodels / backdated restrikes deliberately made in the early 1870s and sold as part of complete off-metal sets of the silver coinage of this year containing quarter, half dollar and dollar which had the reverses of 1866 with the motto "In God We Trust" above the eagle. Copper-nickel J409/P478 with over a dozen known. These were supposedly struck from at least 2 plain 5 obverse dies married to 3 different reverse dies. Nickel J409A/P479 with 6 or 7 known, all business strikes from at least 2 different fancy 5 obverse dies. There is a possibility that these are Mint errors struck on shield nickel stock. 1) An example on PCGS.com/CoinFacts - PCGS Unc66, struck from a broken reverse die and the date centered under the ball of the shield 2) Heritage 8/14 ANA - PCGS Unc65, struck from a similar die to last but dies perfect 3) Denali-Heritage 7/23 - PCGS Unc65, struck from a similar die to last but dies perfect 4) Queller-Heritage 5/09 - NGC Unc64, struck from a similar die to last but dies perfect 5) RARCOA Auction 89 - ch proof, struck from a similar die to last but dies perfect 6) Kagins 5/84, Stacks 1/87, Stacks 6/88, Heritage 8/96 ANA as PCGS Unc65, Queller-Heritage 1/09 FUN as NGC Unc66, Simpson-Heritage 1/21 FUN - PCGS Unc66, struck from a die with the ball over the left edge of the first 6 on a bad planchet 7) RARCOA 1/69 - ch Unc, possibly the same as #6 but the plate is not good enough for a proper attribution Silver J409B/P480. This is unconfirmed and now delisted in the 8th edition of Judd as they appear to be silverplated copper examples of J408 or regular circulations strikes including Lohr's and 2 in the Eliasberg collection. There are listings for silver coins including H. Chapman 5/29, Stacks 1939 ANA and Kagin's 9/52 which we believe to be silverplated examples. If a true silver coin does exist, it is likely a mint error struck on a quarter planchet.