USA: copper-nickel three-cent piece, 1880 proof

lordmarcovan

USA: copper-nickel three-cent piece, 1880 proof

PCGS PR64, cert. #29545093. Ex-"liberty.coin", eBay, 6/26/2014. Mintage: 3,955.

I've always liked the look of proof 3cNs for their relative affordability. True, they're probably not too far behind Indian cents and Liberty nickels as far as the more commonly-encountered 19th century proofs go, but I always kind of wanted one. And so now I have one. I like proofs from the late 19th and early 20th century, but that's not a field I can play in very often, due to budgetary constraints. Though it has no fancy colors, it does look nice and frosty. I think it appears to have some nice near-cameo contrast. Maybe it just missed the CAM designation, who knows. I suspect it may be correctly graded at PR64, but then again, I've seen some subtle-contrast coins that got the CAM designation. Perhaps I'll try resubmitting it one day, and even if it doesn't go CAM, I'll get TrueView images for it. In the meantime, I'm happy with it the way it is.





Larger obverse picture (1000 x 1000)
Larger reverse picture (1000 x 1000)
PCGS cert verification page
PCGS priceguide trends
Numismedia priceguide trends

Wikipedia links:
Three-cent piece (US coin)
James B. Longacre (designer)

When posted here, this coin was part of my "Eclectic Box of 20" collection.

lordmarcovan

(Edit- I put the commentary that was here into the description above.)

magikbilly

I like it

Eric

ldhair

Pretty coin.

giorgio11

I like it Lord M! The business strike 1880s were low-mintage too at 21,000 pieces.

Best Regards,

George

Walkerguy21D

Nice coin!

BaronVonBaugh

ricko

Very nice coin LordM...Congratulations....Cheers, RickO

dpoole

Beautiful low-mintage and cameo 3CN proofs can be had for not much money, particularly in the 1880-89 range.

Very nice, Rob!

LanceNewmanOCC

<< <i>I've always liked the look of proof 3cNs for their relative affordability. >>



+1

the triglyph has always blown my mind on this issue and still does.

nice newp
.

Bayard1908

I like these coins. I like them so much that I own way too many of them.

lordmarcovan

Ah, good. I think dpoole approval on a 3cN thread is akin to getting the nod from Rick Snow after you've posted an IHC.

JJSingleton

Congrats on a fine addition to your collection.

MICHAELDIXON

I've always liked the Proof 3c nickels. Several years ago I started the set, but didn't finish it. Most are relatively inexpensive for a 19th century proof coin, and Robbie at Reeded Edge can find them with ease for his customers.

Ajjohnson77

I have one like it on sale on ebay now but is a PCGS PR65+. Same date and looks.

lordmarcovan

This coin has been in hand a while now, and I like it. I don't think it's a CAM contender after all, but a nice brilliant proof. Correctly graded, IMHO.

nwcoast

I'm in agreement that it's a graphically beautiful design and a sweet example by my humble estimation.
Congratulations on the new addition and thanks for sharing this...

erwindoc

Nice addition! I've only got one early proof myself, liberty nickel in 64cameo. I'll be looking for more soon.

NumisOxide

Nice eye appealing proof example. Looks really close to cam from the pics Rob.

Type2

Very nice.

Musky1011

I too luv the coin.. There seems to be alot of proofs around at not so out of reach oor us average collectors.. Me i am trying to put together a pcgs xf 45 1861 set.. It is quite the challenge not only finding coins but coming up with the cash for these beauties

I luv your posts.. Keep em coming my friend

kaz

I really like that coin with it's near-cameo attributes. Congrats!

JGnumismatics

Very cool addition, I just got rid of my pr66 of the same date