1854, The First Year for the Three Dollar Gold Piece

BillJones

The Three Dollar Gold Piece was produced and issued for many years, from 1854 until 1889, but the it was never popular. The U.S. Mint System only produced a bit over half a million pieces over that time. The coin has bedeviled budget minded type collectors, who are looking to assemble the 12 piece type set, for years. Even the three common dates, 1854-P, 1874 and 1878 are scarce by gold type coin standards and have cost more than $300 in “collector item condition” (AU) since the 1970s.

For years I thought that this coin was a product of “the gold lobby.” Another theory was that the coin made it easier to purchase 300, three cent postage stamps, which was the new rate for first class postage at the time. Conversely numismatic researcher, Roger Burdette, has pointed out the coin was authorized with the belief that it would aid making change in gold among the various denominations. Given its lack of popularity, that theory never became a wide-spread practice.

I completed an 1854 PD and O set for the Three Dollar Gold Piece couple of years ago. Those mint marks stand for Philadelphia, Dahlonega and New Orleans. The Philadelphia engraving department sent dies to all four mints in 1854, but the Charlotte Mint never used their dies and allowed them to rust. The 1854 coins are unique in that the word “DOLLARS” is in small letters. In all of the later years, the letters for the denomination were larger. Therefore I consider the 1854 Three Dollar Gold Piece to be a minor type coin.

This 1854 Philadelphia Mint Three Dollar Gold Piece is PCGS graded MS-63. With a mintage of 138,618, this is one of the most common dates in the series.

The Philadelphia Three Dollar Gold Piece is by far the most common piece in the 1854 set. With a mintage of 138,618, It is one of the three most common date in the series. It is most available in AU condition although Mint State are also plentiful in the relative sense.

This 1854-D Three Dollar Gold Piece is PCGS graded AU-55, CAC.

With a mintage of only 1,120 pieces, the 1854-D Three Dollar Gold is a "dream coin" for many collectors. Despite the low mintage the number of survivors is high for the type with perhaps 325 pieces available in all grades, including the problem coins. This coin is always weakly struck to a degree and usually has so-so luster. The finest known examples have been graded MS-62.

The third party grading company population reports might lead some collectors to think that this coin is somewhat common in AU. That is not the case. Many pieces have been submitted repeatedly to get the coveted Mint State grade. That has artificially inflated the number of AU graded coins in the population reports.

This 1854-O Three Dollar Gold Piece is PCGS graded AU-50.

My last acquisition was an 1854-O Three Dollar Gold. With a mintage of 24,000, this coin is not rare, but like all Three Dollar Gold Pieces, it is scarce. Overall, the “Coin Facts” estimate for the number of survivors is 1,000 pieces. Although there are supposed to be some early die state examples of this date that are well struck, this coin is seldom seen that way. Almost all examples are weakly struck, like this piece, which actually a little above average.

The 1854-O Three Dollar Gold is rare in Mint State, and the highest graded pieces are only in MS-62. The dies were frequently clashed and heavily polished, which removed a great deal of the sharpness from them. PCGS graded this coin AU-50. That is a “price threshold grade.” As the grades go up through the AU and Mint State grades, the prices go up geometrically.

The U.S. Mint System probably had high hopes for the Three Dollar Gold Piece when it issued a combined mintage of 163,738 three dollar coins in 1854. Little did the mint officials realize that that mintage would be 30% of the total number of three dollar gold coins that they would issue over the next 34 years.  

ThreeCentSilverFL

Nice write up Bill. I read somewhere that Longacre modeled the $3 Indian Princess Gold coin after a Crouching Venus statue (Venus Accroupie) at the time in a Philly museum. This representation is an early Greco Roman representation of the Pagan goddess Venus. Here’s my only example. 1859. I need to send it in for reholder soon as the plastic is scratched up. Here’s the Trueview:

Pyrite

Threes seem to have been neglected in recent time.

As I recall, they were hot hot hot in the 60s.

I'd guess the fakes in that time period took a lot off the desirability, but it surprises me to see the mediocre interest nowadays.

Got me curious. Had to check. Yep.

Mine is also 1854

NGC 40, CAC

Crypto

Nothing to add but a humble example with nice color and surfaces

BillJones

Yes, fake Three Dollar Gold Pieces were a huge problem in the 1960s. It soured the interest in them, but you also have to remember that a series that contains one expensive coin after another is not going to attract a lot of date and mint collectors.

I have done it with the gold dollars up to and including the Type III coins, but when I looked at the prices for items like the 1861-D and the 1875, among others, I gave up. The pieces from 1880 to 1889 do make for an interesting and beautiful "short set."

divecchia

Bill, great write up and very educational.

Thanks for sharing and taking the time to educate people like me.

Donato