The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

three cent piece was a unit of currency equaling of a

United States dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...

. The mint produced two different three-cent

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

s for circulation: the three-cent silver and the

three-cent nickel The copper-nickel three-cent piece, often called a three-cent nickel piece or three-cent nickel, was designed by US Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longacre and struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1865 to 1889. It was initially po ...

. Additionally, a

three-cent bronze The three-cent bronze was a pattern coin struck in 1863 by George Eckfeldt. The coin shares its obverse design (other than the font of the date, which is smaller and curved), thickness, and diameter with that of the Braided Hair large cent, but w ...

coin was made as a pattern in 1863. During the period from 1865 to 1873, both coins were minted, albeit in very small quantities for the silver three-cent piece.

History

The three-cent coin was proposed in 1851 both as a result of the decrease in

postage The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...

rates from five cents to three and to answer the need for a small-denomination, easy-to-handle coin. The three-cent silver featured a shield on a six-sided star on the obverse and the

Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...

III on the reverse. The coin was initially composed of 75% silver and 25%

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

to ensure that the coin would be considered real currency yet not worth melting down for the silver. The coins were physically the lightest-weight coins ever minted by the United States, weighing only 0.8 grams and with a diameter smaller than a modern dime and only slightly greater than the smallest

gold dollar The gold dollar or gold one-dollar piece is a gold coin that was struck as a regular issue by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1849 to 1889. The coin had three types over its lifetime, all designed by Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longa ...

s. The silver coins were known as "fishscales". The term "trimes" is often used today for these coins, and was first used by the director of the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...

( James Ross Snowden) at the time of their production. Starting in 1854, the three-cent silver had its silver metal content raised to 90% to encourage circulation. At the same time, its weight was reduced to 0.75 grams by reducing thickness. The coin went through a design change at the time such that two lines were now used to border the star on the obverse and an olive sprig was added above and a bundle of arrows below the Roman numeral III on the reverse. A final design change occurred in 1859 because of striking problems: the number of lines bordering the star was reduced to one, and the font was made taller and slightly narrower. The size of the date numerals also varied through the years, with 1860–1863 featuring the smallest date numerals of any US coin. In 1851 only, the

New Orleans Mint The New Orleans Mint (french: Monnaie de La Nouvelle-Orléans) operated in New Orleans, Louisiana, as a branch mint of the United States Mint from 1838 to 1861 and from 1879 to 1909. During its years of operation, it produced over 427 million ...

struck some of the silver three-cent coins. It was minted from 1851 to 1873 at the

Philadelphia Mint The Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia was created from the need to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States. This led the Founding Fathers of the United States to make an establishment of a continental national ...

. Later years had very small mintages and the 1873 issue was in proof state only, commanding prices upwards of $400. However, an earlier-date silver three-cent piece can be bought in worn condition for a relatively low price. The silver three-cent pieces can be purchased for around $25 if they are in decent shape and before 1862, depending on the mintage. The silver three-cent piece (along with the half dime, and the two-cent piece as well as the temporary suspension of the standard silver dollar in favor of the Trade Dollar) was discontinued by the

Coinage Act of 1873 The Coinage Act of 1873 or Mint Act of 1873, was a general revision of laws relating to the Mint of the United States. By ending the right of holders of silver bullion to have it coined into standard silver dollars, while allowing holders of go ...

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

-era silver shortages led to widespread

hoarding Hoarding is a behavior where people or animals accumulate food or other items. Animal behavior ''Hoarding'' and ''caching'' are common in many bird species as well as in rodents. Most animal caches are of food. However, some birds will a ...

of all silver coins, and most one- and five-cent coins, as well. Various alternatives were tried, including encapsulated postage and privately issued coinage. The

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...

eventually settled on issuing fractional currency. These small denomination (3 to 50 cent)

notes Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versio ...

were never popular, as they were easy to lose and unwieldy in large amounts. The answer to this issue was reached in 1865 with the introduction of the three-cent nickel coin, composed of copper and nickel and larger than the silver coin of the same denomination. The coin featured a Liberty head obverse and another Roman numeral III reverse. The three-cent nickel was never intended as a permanent issue, only as a stopgap measure until the wartime hoarding ceased. Production began to taper off in the 1870s (except for an anomalously large coinage in 1881), but mintage of the denomination did not finally end until 1889. One reason often given for the discontinuation of the three-cent nickel piece in 1889 is that this coin and the dime (10-cent silver coin) were identical in diameter. Another factor may have been that in 1883, the letter postage rate dropped to 2 cents, thus removing the justification for this coin. The three-cent nickel was only minted in Philadelphia, and except for a larger date on the 1889 pieces, had no design differences throughout its run. Over the course of the series, mintage declined, and some of the dates are scarce, but with an 1865 mintage over 11 million, a type piece can be inexpensively obtained.

Glass coins

There was some discussion of minting a glass 3-cent coin to relieve the demand on copper during World War II. It is possible other denomination glass coins were being considered as well.

Mintage figures

Three cent (silver), 1851–1873 * 1851 (P) – 5,447,400 * 1851 O – 720,000 * 1852 (P) – 18,663,500 * 1853 (P) – 11,400,000 * 1854 (P) – 671,000 * 1855 (P) – 139,000 * 1856 (P) – 1,458,000 * 1857 (P) – 1,042,000 * 1858 (P) – 1,603,700 * 1859 (P) – 364,200 * 1860 (P) – 286,000 * 1861 (P) – 497,000 * 1862 (P) – 343,000 * 1863 (P) – 21,000 * 1864 (P) – 12,000 * 1865 (P) – 8,000 * 1866 (P) – 22,000 * 1867 (P) – 4,000 * 1868 (P) – 3,500 * 1869 (P) – 4,500 * 1870 (P) – 3,000 * 1871 (P) – 3,400 * 1872 (P) – 1,000 * 1873 (P) – 600 (all proof) Three cent (nickel), 1865–1889 * 1865 (P) – 11,382,000 * 1866 (P) – 4,801,000 * 1867 (P) – 3,915,000 * 1868 (P) – 3,252,000 * 1869 (P) – 1,604,000 * 1870 (P) – 1,335,000 * 1871 (P) – 604,000 * 1872 (P) – 862,000 * 1873 (P) – 1,173,000 * 1874 (P) – 790,000 * 1875 (P) – 228,000 * 1876 (P) – 162,000 * 1877 (P) – About 510 (all proof) * 1878 (P) – 2,350 (all proof) * 1879 (P) – 38,000 * 1880 (P) – 21,000 * 1881 (P) – 1,077,000 * 1882 (P) – 22,200 * 1883 (P) – 4,000 * 1884 (P) – 1,700 * 1885 (P) – 1,000 * 1886 (P) – 4,290 (all proof) * 1887 (P) – 5,000 * 1888 (P) – 36,500 * 1889 (P) – 18,190

References

External links

US Three Cent Piece by year and type.
Histories, photos, and more.

Silver Three Cents: 1851–1873 – Type Set Coin Collecting

About Glass Coins {{DEFAULTSORT:Three-Cent Piece (United States Coin) Three-cent coins of the United States 1851 establishments in the United States

History

Glass coins

Mintage figures

See also

References

Further reading

External links