Design of the $3 gold piece
The $ 3 gold man is identical in design to the indian Princess Gold Dollar. Both types of coins were designed by James B. Longacre, Chief Engraver of the Philadelphia Mint. A leftward facing Lady Liberty with a native american headdress bearing the password “ LIBERTY ” is depicted on the obverse side. “ unite STATES OF AMERICA ” is engraved around the periphery of the coin.
merely like the $ 1 man, the reverse side of the $ 3 Gold Princess coin depicts an agricultural wreath of corn, cotton, wheat and tobacco that is tied with a bow. The coin ‘s denomination “ 3 DOLLARS ” and the year of mintage appears at the focus on of the mint. Coins that were minted in New Orleans ( mint scratch : O ), San Francisco ( mint sign : S ) or Dahlonega ( mint mark : D ) contain a mint check just below the submit at the bottom. however, $ 3 amerind Princess amber coins that were minted at the main Philadelphia branch of the United States Mint do n’t have any batch target .
History of the 3 Dollar gold coin
Whereas a $ 4 gold assemble was never approved and only convention coins were made, a gold mint with the strange appellation of 3 dollars was authorized by a congressional bill on the 21st of February 1853. There is hush some discussion among numismatists today regarding the intended purpose of this 3 Dollar gold mint. Most experts believe it was issued to facilitate the purchase of sheets of 3 cent stamps. These stamps had been authorized by Congress in 1851 along with a 3 penny silver coin. Whereas the eloquent coin facilitated the individual purchase of these stamps, the 3 Dollar coin made it easier to buy hundreds of 3 cent stamps at once. however, some historians believe that the California Gold Rush of that time was the true reason for the coin ‘s introduction .
The US Mint intentionally chose to use thinner planchets for the newfangled $ 3 indian Princess gold coins than for the similarly designed $ 2.5 indian Quarter Eagles, resulting in a substantially larger diameter for the modern coin. mintage started in 1854 and about 30 percentage of the eventual total mintage was produced that foremost year alone. ascribable to complaints from the public, the letter of the bible “ DOLLARS ” on the turn back side was enlarged in 1855. The image near the top of the page shows a coin from 1855 with this blow up letter. slightly above on the leave, you see the reverse of a mint from 1854 with the master small inscription .
The $ 3 indian Princess aureate coin was never very popular among the public. however, some people used these coins as gifts or evening in jewelry. During the death 10 years of mintage from 1879 to 1889, big numbers of $ 3 Gold Princess coins were remelted at the US Mint facility in Philadelphia. The last coins were produced in 1889 and Congress formally abolished both the 3 Dollar and 1 Dollar gold coin on the 26th of September 1890. The US Mint then still had batch of 3 dollar indian gold coins in breed and 49,087 pieces ( from the final years of mintage and the high coinage years 1874 and 1878 ) were consequently remelted in the 1890 ‘s .
even though production of the $ 3 indian Princess Head amber mint lasted from 1854 to 1889, only the US Mint facility in Philadelphia produced them every year during this period .
Rare Dates
Three-Dollar Gold Pieces from all years of coinage are nowadays highly rare. possibly it is a bite easier to find coins that were minted during the first year of coinage, since 163,738 out of a sum of 539,792 coins were minted in 1854 alone .
annual proof mintage varied between 20 coins ( 1874, 1875, 1877, 1878 ) and 291 coins in 1888. only proof coins and no regular circulation coins were minted in 1873, 1875 and 1876 .
alone one 3 Dollar aureate piece is known to have been minted in San Francisco in 1870 .
even though the coins are now identical rare for all years of mintage, the coins minted in Dahlonega and New Orleans in 1854, San Francisco in 1855, 1857 and 1860 adenine well as in Philadelphia in 1873 and 1877 are nowadays particularly hard to find .
Mintage Numbers
annual coinage of 3 dollar indian gold coins at the versatile US Mint branches varied between 500 coins ( Philadelphia 1881 ) and 138,618 coins ( Philadelphia 1854 ). proof coins were about entirely minted at the Philadelphia branch of the US Mint and proof coinage varied between 20 coins and 291 coins ( 1888 ). actual proof coinage numbers for the years 1854 to 1858 are not quite certain.
US Mint branches : P – Philadelphia, S – San Francisco, O – New Orleans, D – Dahlonega
$3 Indian Princess Head Gold Coin
Year | Mint Branch | Mintage | Notes | Proof Mintage |
1854 | P | 138,618 | ~10? | |
1854 | O | 24,000 | 0 | |
1854 | D | 1,120 | 0 | |
1855 | P | 50,555 | ~10? | |
1855 | S | 6,600 | ~2? | |
1856 | P | 26,010 | ~10? | |
1856 | S | 34,500 | 0 | |
1857 | P | 20,891 | ~10? | |
1857 | S | 14,000 | 0 | |
1858 | P | 2,133 | ~10? | |
1859 | P | 15,558 | 80 | |
1860 | P | 7,036 | 119 | |
1860 | S | 4,408 | 0 | |
1861 | P | 5,959 | 113 | |
1862 | P | 5,750 | 35 | |
1863 | P | 5,000 | 39 | |
1864 | P | 2,630 | 50 | |
1865 | P | 1,140 | 25 | |
1866 | P | 4,000 | 30 | |
1867 | P | 2,600 | 50 | |
1868 | P | 4,850 | 25 | |
1869 | P | 2,500 | 25 | |
1870 | P | 3,500 | 35 | |
1870 | S | ? | only one coin known to exist | ? |
1871 | P | 1,300 | 30 | |
1872 | P | 2,000 | 30 | |
1873 | P | ? | only proof coins known to exist | 25 |
1874 | P | 41,800 | 20 | |
1875 | P | 0 | only proof coins | 20 |
1876 | P | 0 | only proof coins | 45 |
1877 | P | 1,468 | 20 | |
1878 | P | 82,304 | 20 | |
1879 | P | 3,000 | 30 | |
1880 | P | 1,000 | 36 | |
1881 | P | 500 | 54 | |
1882 | P | 1,500 | 76 | |
1883 | P | 900 | 89 | |
1884 | P | 1,000 | 106 | |
1885 | P | 801 | 109 | |
1886 | P | 1,000 | 142 | |
1887 | P | 6,000 | 160 | |
1888 | P | 5,000 | 291 | |
1889 | P | 2,300 | 129 |
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