The so-called transitional double eagle with 'In God We Trust' on the reverse. This reverse was adopted in 1866. This forms part of a set along with the half eagle J445/P517 and eagle J449/P521. These are believed to have been struck in 1865 although they may also have been restruck in the early 1870s. The Smithsonian gold striking above shows a die crack in front of the one in the date which is present on several of the copper examples as well. Available images of the former Wilkison specimen do not appear to show the die break. If the latter does not have the die break, then the 2 gold pieces were, at a minimum, probably not struck sequentially and might have been struck much later. The first definite appearance of this design was in the April 1870 auction by John Haseltine of coins from the Idler collection. Idler is famous today as one of the collector/dealers who had "connections" with the mint. A possible earlier listing may be Cogan's September 1869 sale. Two examples of this design are known in gold - J452/P524 - Wilkison's, first offered in a June 1870 Mason and Company sale, the other, illustrated, in the Smithsonian. Over a dozen are known in copper of J453/P526, several of which have been gilted. An example in the Connecticut State Library ex Mitchelson appears to be either silver or a copper example which has either been silverplated or pickled. It is mentioned in Judd as being from the Robert Coulton Davis collection and was listed as J453A/P525. An earlier occurance of this coin was probably lot 2438 in Woodward's 34th sale of 1881 where an example is described as probably a silverplated copper example. An example listed in aluminum J453B/P527 has not been seen since its original appearance in Woodward's 45th sale of the Dohrmann collection in 1882. The reverse is plated in the catalog and does not appear to be aluminum. It is probably a reappearance of the silver or silver-plated copper example. Photo courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian Institution.