United States Three Cent Coin

A three cent coin was produced by the

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1858 Silver

Three Cent Piece

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United States Mint from 1851 to 1889. Two differentwere made during this time span: The(1851-1873) and the(1865-1889).

These unusual coins were first introduced to try to put some coins back into circulation as silver coins were being hoarded because they were worth more for the silver content than their face value. This caused a shortage of coins needed for day to day purchases.

Government officials decided to introduce a coin that would be considered valuable to people but not valuable enough that they would hoard them or melt them down.

So, the three cent silver, made of 75% silver, was produced to try to get more coins into circulation.

The silver three cent piece was a very small coin.

In fact, it is the smallest US silver coin ever made. It's silver color, along with it smallness of size earned it the nickname "fishscales".

At about the same time, postage rates were lowered from five cents to three cents so it was decided that a three cent coin would be a good choice.

Note: The Coinage Act of 1964 gave the cent and nickel full Legal Tender status.

Since one cent coins were not considered legal tenderLegal Tender

Coins or currency which, by law, must be accepted as payment of a debt. during this time, they were not accepted for postage purchases.

At the same time, people did not want to let go of their silver coins to purchase postage because they knew they would probably get copper one cent coins as change, so the three cent silver coin was welcomed.

This three cent silver coin was made until 1873, and was also referred to as a trime.

Silver Three Cent Coin - Type 1

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1851 Three Cent Silver Type 1

Type Three Cent Silver - Type 1 Designer James B. Longacre Years Minted 1851-1853 Weight .80 grams Composition 75% silver, 25% copper Diameter 14 mm Edge plain Mints Philadelphia - no mint mark

New Orleans - O Mintage

Year

1851

1852

1853 Philadelphia

5,447,400

18,663,500

11,400,000 New Orleans-O

720,000

0

0

Silver Three Cent Coin - Type 2

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1858 Three Cent Silver Type 2

Type Three Cent Silver - Type 2 Designer James B. Longacre Years Minted 1854-1858 Weight .75 grams Composition 90% silver, 10% copper Diameter 14 mm Edge plain Mints Philadelphia - no mint mark Mintage 1854 - 671,000

1855 - 139,000

1856 - 1,458,000

1857 - 1,042,000

1858 - 1,603,700

Silver Three Cent Coin - Type 3

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1861 Three Cent Silver Type 3

Type Three Cent Silver - Type 3 Designer James B. Longacre Years Minted 1859-1873 Weight .75 grams Composition 90% silver, 10% copper Diameter 14 mm Edge plain Mints Philadelphia - no mint mark Mintage 1859- 364,200

1860 - 286,000

1861 - 497,000

1862 - 343,000

1863 - 21,000

1864 - 12,000

1865 - 8,000

1866 - 22,000

1867 - 4,000

1868 - 3,500

1869 - 4,500

1870 - 3,000

1871 - 3,400

1872 - 1,000

1873 - proofs only

Nickel Three Cent Coin

A three cent nickel coin was introduced in 1865. It was produced by the Philadelphia Mint until 1889. It was a little larger than the trime and was made of a copper-nickel (75% cooper and 25% nickel) alloy. It was about the size of a modern dime and was called the Three Cent Nickel.

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1873 Three Cent Nickel

Type Three Cent Nickel Designer James B. Longacre Years Minted 1865-1889 Weight 1.94 grams Composition 75% copper, 25% nickel Diameter 17.9 mm Edge plain Mints Philadelphia - no mint mark Mintage 1865 - 11,382,000

1866 - 4,801,000

1867 - 3,915,000

1868 - 3,252,000

1869 - 1,604,000

1870 - 1,335,000

1871 - 604,000

1872 - 862,000

1873, Close 3 - 390,000

1873, Open 3 - 783,000

1874 - 790,000

1875 - 228,000

1876 - 162,000

1877 - proofs only

1878 - proofs only

1879 - 38,000

1880 - 21,000

1881 - 1,077,000

1882 - 22,200

1883 - 4,000

1884 - 1,700

1885 - 1,000

1886 - proofs only

1887 - 5,001

1888 - 36,501

1889 - 18,125