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I thought $3 gold coins were created for buying 100 3c stamps
TopographicOceans
Posts: 6,535 ✭✭✭✭
However there seems to be much more to that story
I had posted this deep in the bowels of another thread, but thought it was interesting on it's own.
I had posted this deep in the bowels of another thread, but thought it was interesting on it's own.
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Spring National Battlefield Coin Show is September 5-7, 2024 at the Eisenhower Hotel in Gettysburg, PA. WWW.AmericasCoinShows.com
Tom
Interesting article.
Joseph J. Singleton - First Superintendent of the U.S. Branch Mint in Dahlonega Georgia
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Algthough not QUITE as popular, it had different hairdos.
I just SOLD my only three.
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One of these days...
I have 100 3 cent stamps that I will be happy to trade for your $3 gold!
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
My lord, the color on that AU58 is absolutely outstanding. Congrats
Cheers, RickO
STOP THIS THREAD!
I just SOLD my only three.
oh no!
I wouldn't think that many people needed 100 stamps in the mid 1800's.
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My opinion is that the gold lobby probably pushed for it as new use for their products in addition to the convenience angle.
As for the silver three cent piece, I believe that one of its uses was to buy the new three cent postage stamps. In 1851, when the trime was authorized, you would have needed three large cents to buy a postage stamp or would have gotten back two large cents when you paid for the stamp with a half dime or any other coin. Large cents were not circulating very well by 1851, so the trime made sense.
The trime was also used to redeem underweight Spanish silver coins which were still legal tender. People found that if they submitted badly worn Spanish dollars to the mint for re-coinage they were getting more silver in return. The trime was the first U.S. coin that frankly billed as a "token coinage." In other words there were no government claims that the trime had three cents worth of silver in it. Therefore those who deposited those worn Spanish dollars were prevented from making a profit on the transaction.
Here is my highest grade #3 gold type coin. NGC called it MS-64.
The dies were received in Dahlonega with the instructions to strike as needed for demand. 1120 were produced on the first day and no more were ever struck. I am fortunate to have two in my collection.
Interesting article.
way cool, i like.
Here's a quote from the article: "They did not return with peace as it was roughly 15 years or more before gold coins would appear again in any numbers in circulation at least in the East and even then things were not the same as the public in some parts of the country had begun to make a transition to using bank notes for their convenience and not carting around large numbers of gold coins, so what gold coins there were in many cases sat in vaults serving as backing for Gold Certificates and indirectly National Bank Notes. "
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
It was a bit of a train wreck, I'm afraid, though interesting.
There was once a counterstamp on the obverse which was subsequently almost obliterated by the person who sought to murder this coin (and mostly succeeded).
But hey, I only had 160 bucks in it. And I was told the 1860 issue is something of a "sleeper".
I was never able to decipher the counterstamp, which is too bad.
I sort of wish I still had this coin. I could count it as a "love token" for inclusion in my current "Oddball" set.
According to Roger Burdette the $3 gold coin was authorized because it fit in as a convenient denomination within the other denominations of gold coins. Obviously that idea never caught on, and the coin was made in limited numbers at the Philadelphia Mint until 1889.
My opinion is that the gold lobby probably pushed for it as new use for their products in addition to the convenience angle.
As for the silver three cent piece, I believe that one of its uses was to buy the new three cent postage stamps. In 1851, when the trime was authorized, you would have needed three large cents to buy a postage stamp or would have gotten back two large cents when you paid for the stamp with a half dime or any other coin. Large cents were not circulating very well by 1851, so the trime made sense.
The trime was also used to redeem underweight Spanish silver coins which were still legal tender. People found that if they submitted badly worn Spanish dollars to the mint for re-coinage they were getting more silver in return. The trime was the first U.S. coin that frankly billed as a "token coinage." In other words there were no government claims that the trime had three cents worth of silver in it. Therefore those who deposited those worn Spanish dollars were prevented from making a profit on the transaction.
Here is my highest grade #3 gold type coin. NGC called it MS-64.
Speaking of the trime and the convenience of its use in purchasing three cent postage stamps, I have always assumed that the convenience was for the post office's sake rather than the individual people buying stamps. It was no big deal for an individual to carry in three large cents, but at the end of the day the post office had to deal with all those large cents that had come in. Wouldn't you rather carry 100 trimes to your local bank than 300 large cents?
TD
I wouldn't think that many people needed 100 stamps in the mid 1800's.
There were certainly large merchantile estsblishments that would have sent dozens of letters per day. And it's not like they had Pitney-Bowes postage meters. But that doesn't seem enough business to justify a coin denomination.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Speaking of the trime and the convenience of its use in purchasing three cent postage stamps, I have always assumed that the convenience was for the post office's sake rather than the individual people buying stamps. It was no big deal for an individual to carry in three large cents, but at the end of the day the post office had to deal with all those large cents that had come in. Wouldn't you rather carry 100 trimes to your local bank than 300 large cents?
You are assuming people bought stamps at the Post Office. 1850s America was still fairly agrarian and most people would have bought the stamp from the mail carrier - perhaps leaving 3 large cents on top of the letter. It wouldn't be the Post Office dealing with the weight, but the poor carrier.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
The gold $3 was minted in limited quantities for only five years in San Francisco (1855-1857, 1860, and 1870). The story of the most likely unique 1870-S $3 is fascinating and a bit of a mystery.
From CoinFacts:
David Akers (1975/88): This coin is one of the most famous of all U.S. gold coins. The Superintendent of the San Francisco Mint indicated that only a single piece had been struck to be put into the cornerstone of the new mint building. However, a specimen appeared in the William H. Woodin Sale in 1911 and was claimed to be a duplicate of the coin in the cornerstone. It is probable that the two coins are one and the same and today it is widely accepted that the 1870-S three dollar gold piece is unique. The lone piece is in the collection of the late Louis Eliasberg of Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Eliasberg purchased the coin through Stack's and the Celina Coin Company for $11,500 in January of 1946, the same month in which he purchased the 1854-S half eagle for less than half that amount ($5500). This, of course, was an astonishing price for the period, although it was $2500 less than the amount that Mr. Eliasberg had paid Abe Kosoff for an 1822 half eagle in July of 1945. Prior to being in the possession of Ted and Carl Brandts who owned the Celina Coin Company, the 1870-S was in the Brand Collection.
The unique piece in the Eliasberg Collection is not in choice condition and, in fact, it has the "pebbled" appearance of a coin that has been used as jewelry. There is also minor damage at the obverse rim below the bust, indicating that the coin probably was worn on a key chain or watch fob. The numerals "893" have also been scratched upside down into the reverse field above the wreath. The S mintmark is totally unlike the mintmark on any U.S. coin, in particular the S Mint coins of 1870, lending credence to the story that the mintmark was cut into the die by hand after the die reached San Francisco.
David Hall: The 1870-S three dollar gold piece is unique. The following is the pedigree;
1. Eliasberg- Bass specimen, EF-40 PCGS estimated grade
- H.T. Van Camp (1907?). Advertised in the Numismatist.
- William H. Woodin (?-1911)
Thomas Elder auction sale of the William Woodin collection (March, 1911). The reserve bid was $1,000 and the coin sold for $1,450.
- Waldo C. Newcomer (1920?-1930's?)
- B. Max Mehl (?). Mehl sold the massive Newcomer collection piecemeal on a consignment basis.
- Celina Coin Company (Ted and Carl Brandts). Advertised in the Numismatist in 1945 for $25,000.
- Stack's (1946) as an agent for Louis Eliasberg
- Louis Eliasberg (1946-1982). Purchased thru Stack's from Celina Coin Company in January, 1946 for $11,500, a huge price at the time.
- Bowers and Ruddy Galleries (Q. David Bowers & James F. Ruddy) auction sale of the Louis Eliasberg collection of U.S. gold coins (October, 1982). The coin brought $687,500, a record price for a U.S. gold coin (and a price tied the next day when the Eliasberg 1822 $5 also brought $687,500).
- Harry Bass (& estate) (1982 to date). Purchased by Harry Bass at the October, 1982 Eliasberg auction for $687,500.
I like to think of it as an 1870-S with a missing mint mark.
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
I was never able to decipher the counterstamp, which is too bad.
R. R. Marsh.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars
south park likes 1863 $3:
Haha that is awesome! Do you know what episode that is from?
south park likes 1863 $3:
Haha that is awesome! Do you know what episode that is from?
man bear pig.
south park likes 1863 $3:
Haha that is awesome! Do you know what episode that is from?
man bear pig.
thanks!
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My Type Set & My Complete Proof Nickel Set!
awesome $3 piece. you win!! :-)