Eu resolvi - o encantamento mágico que eu estava procurando é:
mongodump --query "{\"ts\":{\"\$gt\":{\"\$date\":`date -d 2011-08-10 +%s`000},\"\$lte\":{\"\$date\":`date -d 2011-08-11 +%s`000}}}"
mongodump --query "{\"ts\":{\"\$gt\":{\"\$date\":`date -d 2011-08-10 +%s`000},\"\$lte\":{\"\$date\":`date -d 2011-08-11 +%s`000}}}"