1854, The First Year for the Three Dollar Gold Piece

BillJones · November 14, 2017 10:52AM

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,” but our own 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.

Recently I completed an 1854 PD and O set for the Three Dollar Gold Piece. Those mint marks stand for Philadelphia, Dahlonega and New Orleans. The Philadelphia engraving department sent dies to all four mints in 1854, but Charlotte never used their dies, and just 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 would be larger. Therefore I consider the 1854 Three Dollar Gold Piece to be a minor type coin.

The Philadelphia is by far the most common. It is one of the three most common date in the series. This coin is a PCGS MS-63.

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. You can still expect to pay a five figure amount when you are able to locate one, however. This coin was stuck with generally indifferent luster, and true Mint State examples are quite scarce. The grade for this coin is PCGS AU-55, CAC.

My most recent acquisition is 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. 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. This coin 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

And here is a "late date" with the word "DOLLARS" in larger letters. This coin is an NGC MS-64.

DCW · November 14, 2017 10:56AM

Great write up, Bill. Thanks for posting these great coins

crazyhounddog · November 14, 2017 11:02AM

I'm impressed all the way! Beautiful examples you have here and an excellent read.
Thanks for sharing.

ElmerFusterpuck · November 14, 2017 11:05AM

Cool write up! I finally got a couple examples as type this year, the 1854 in AU-55 and an 1856 in AU-58, both PCGS.

I've noticed the prices have been coming down in this series, at least in those AU grades above.

ShadyDave · November 14, 2017 11:06AM

@BillJones said:

For years I thought that this coin was a product of “the gold lobby,” but our own 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.

Learned something new today, thanks for the informative post as always. Sweet set of $3's!

asheland · November 14, 2017 11:39AM

I love those!!! Great write up, too!

originalisbest · November 14, 2017 11:44AM

I really like all your 3's Bill, and especially, the 1854-D. Interesting to note that there might have been an 1854-C but the die was allowed to sit and deteriorate. Did the Charlotte staff do that of their own accord, or did minds at Philly change, and Charlotte staff was told not to manfacture the 3's that initial year?

thebeav · November 14, 2017 11:57AM

I've always liked threes.....Doesn't everybody ?
Those are lovely coins !

CaptHenway · November 14, 2017 12:06PM

I love the 1856 Proof where the die is hubbed with the large "DOLLARS" over a small "DOLLARS."

BillJones · November 14, 2017 12:29PM

@originalisbest said:
I really like all your 3's Bill, and especially, the 1854-D. Interesting to note that there might have been an 1854-C but the die was allowed to sit and deteriorate. Did the Charlotte staff do that of their own accord, or did minds at Philly change, and Charlotte staff was told not to manfacture the 3's that initial year?

In those days the party to deposited the gold for coinage had the option as to which coins they wanted. The Charlotte and Dahlonega people most often wanted half eagles, which reflected in the mintages. The Dahlonega mintage of 1,120 pieces was sort of a token, and from what I can remember was struck in one day in August. As the head office Philadelphia would have been pushing the new coin, and the New Orleans people may have bought into the concept that the coin would make easier from them to use gold coins instead have having to get half dollars in the mix, which was caused by the odd quarter eagle denomination.

It is probable that no one in Charlette wanted the three dollar coins so none were made. It would have been interesting if they had been made. It would have made the Charlotte gold type set more interesting for me, but then again, it would have added one expensive to my want list. I also imagine that the quality of those Charlotte threes would have been quite poor.

On average the Dahlonega Mint made higher quality coins than Charlotte. At time they even made better coins than the pieces the Philadelphia Mint issued. The 1838-D half eagle and the some of the 1855-D gold dollars immediately come to mind. I saw one at the Baltimore show that simply an amazing strike despite the fact the reverse die was badly clashed.

DCW · November 14, 2017 12:51PM

"It would have been interesting if they had been made. It would have made the Charlotte gold type set more interesting for me..."

Paging @dcarr ... Can we work on getting @BillJones a 1854-C $3 gold for Christmas?

RogerB · November 14, 2017 1:28PM

@ShadyDave said:

@BillJones said:

For years I thought that this coin was a product of “the gold lobby,” but our own 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.

Learned something new today, thanks for the informative post as always. Sweet set of $3's!

The full article is in the Journal of Numismatic Research (JNR), Autumn 2013. Issue 4. Detailed research articles include:
Origin of the 3-Cent Silver Coin
Purpose of the $3 Gold Coin
Gold Dollars Used for Jewelry

At the time, small denomination paper notes - $1, $2, $3 - were considered an infestation o the public and many members of Congress wanted to replace them with coins of the same value to "drive out bad money." The $1 and $3 were a product of this approach.