"Trime." Another questionable term
RogerB
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The word "trime" is used by some collectors as a name for the three cent silver coin. Yet, to my ear, it sounds "off," as if the word is forced or invented. Just for fun, I checked newspaper archives from 1852 through 1870 for the word 'trime." This produced no instances of "trime" from either the newspapers.com or Library of Congress newspapers databases. I also checked all the US Mint archive documents and Annual Reports - nothing. Checked the LoC's "U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875." Nope. Members of Congress didn't say "trime."
[New York Daily Herald, Feb.3, 1853,]
The coin was usually called a "three-cent silver" or "three cent piece" or something similar.
[Photos by Heritage Auctions.]
So -- the burning question, where did the term "trime" originate and why are collectors calling this tiny coin something its originators wouldn't have understood? 
Comments
Another Breenism???
OK RogerB just so you know, I am NOT going to reholder and remark 53 Trimes. Ha Ha I have been wondering where that name originated for a couple of years. Since I couldn't find anything about it I just decided to " Go with it ".
Bob Sr CEO Fieldtechs
OK RogerB just so you know, I am NOT going to reholder and remark 53 Trimes. Ha Ha I have been wondering where that name originated for a couple of years. Since I couldn't find anything about it I just decided to " Go with it ".
Bob Sr CEO Fieldtechs
OK RogerB just so you know, I am NOT going to reholder and remark 53 Trimes. Ha Ha I have been wondering where that name originated for a couple of years. Since I couldn't find anything about it I just decided to " Go with it ".
Bob Sr CEO Fieldtechs
....and a triple-header, to boot!
You just need fifty more.
Something off numismaster.com
http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ArticleId=7830
"Snowden is believed to have coined the name "trime" for the silver three-cent piece as a handy way of keeping track of it. It seems not to have caught on with the public, though modern collectors find it useful."
From Flynn/Zack reference book on three cent silver coins, " The first Archive letter regarding coins sent to a Post Office was on May 8, 1851. A June 14, 1851 letter stated that the balance on hand for Trimes and vouchers was $54,120.00, with an additional 198,100 coins stuck for the week. Notice the the term "Trimes" , which was used by different individuals when describing the coins."
Most like slang term that just worked it's way into common everyday language.
Much like "penny" when, in fact, it's a cent.
Trime root meaning three parts.
Not to be confused with the similar circulating 10 cent dime, a trime was 3 parts of a dime.
Thus, trime was born.
Chris
Too much like " slime". Never liked the term. Come to think of it , I never much liked the Coin. Although, I do have an 1855 that's horribly toned really dark.
"Three cent silver" is a mouthful. Any other shorter options?
3CS vs. 3CN (a/k/a Nickels - for a short time)
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I think the first to be released were called, "trismes."
Has anybody found anything definitive?
Bowers says, "You will find in The Numismatist, 1915, and Edgar H. Adams’s pattern articles of this era. This seems to make it a numismatic nickname, not a Treasury designation. If no 1861-1873 Treasury use can be found, we need to footnote it as a numismatic term."
It seems, based on information available, that it was a term of convenience to eliminate three words...No record of who first used it....much like acronyms today that become common words, it was short, easy and conveyed meaning. Cheers, RickO
If I was introduced to the word "trime" with no previous knowledge I would think it would be a 30 cent piece!
I don't like it either; a pet peeve when we see these abbreviations that may just be a lazy way for insiders to communicate leaving others scratching their heads.
Hey RogerB
Sorry for the multiple posts. My computer hung up and I just kept hitting the "ANY " key.
Bob Sr CEO Fieldtechs
The 1853 mint report (House Executive Document 40, February 2,
1854) uses “trime” in the list of pieces struck. The term is found on
pages 9, 11, and 13.
Well, then! That settles that. Sounds like an official term that never caught on with the public and the press, sort of like "Double Dime."
Years ago I tried to promote "Trickle" as a shorthand version of "Three Cent Nickle," but it never caught on.
Being worth only three cents, they would be more appropriately called the "trent."
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We are going to have to figure out how many "Breenisms" there are.
I'm "trime-ing" to understand where this came from also.
Pete
This is good info.
Pete
I covered this topic exhaustively in my book, “The complete history of three cent coinage in America.”
I though you were making a 3-post as a play on the "trime" theme.
So...we have thus far one mention in one letter and three uses in one, and only one, mint report. Nothing so far in newspapers or anything else. The Snowden reference is useless because it has no documentary reference.
Regarding Edgar Adams. Did Dr. Judd continue that or Andrew Pollock?
From the perspective of historical language, American English of the 19th century did not generate a lot of non-descriptive abbreviations, object cognomen and epithets. American emphasis on practicality and useful description likely worked against any significant use of "trime." It is interesting to note that the twenty cent piece was often referred to as a "double dime," rarely as a "fifth dollar," but never a "duple-dime."
It's also interesting that so many members took a moment to respond or check historical materials.
Now let us move on to another pressing concern: the so-called truncation on most portrait coins is neither a shortening nor a reduction, and therefore is not a truncation at all. Amend the pertinent literature post-haste!
These are the Trimes that fry men's souls!
And what is the best sculptural term ? (I've been using "curvy part at the neck where the person was decapitated and someone stuck their monogram or initials" but that seems slightly long-winded....)
Did you try hitting the "DELIVER" key?
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Aw, come on! It's not like we are researching our dissertation for a doctorate in History at Brown University!
I have researched newspapers, documents, and personal diary’s
The term “fishy scales” was applied to the coin around 1853
It seems that “Ladies” did not like the coin as they caused their white gloves to soil. Hence the derogatory slang term was born.
Regarding your research using library of Congress free data search what you will find is that many articles appear in many papers that were “shared” sort of like when a modern day press release appears in multiple outlets. For me this is the post of the week as I can never get enough of the little guys.
I like the nickname "Trime" and will continue to use it. Everyone seems to know what they are.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
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Referencing the Newman Portal - the word doesn't show up in auction catalogs until 1897, and at that point is used often by Lyman Low and Ben Green, and to a lesser extent by Thomas Elder. There are no numismatic references prior to this. So the word is used in the 1853 Mint report and then not adapted among dealers until 1897. Is it possible somebody read the Mint report at this time and decided to start using the word??
In the 1952 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica's "Great Books of the Western World" series, one of the ancient Greek comedies (I believe it was "The Wasps," by Aristophanes) referred to some small silver coins that one of the characters kept in his mouth as "fish scales." In the 1990 edition a new translation of the work was used, and the coins are called by their numismatic name "obols."
Were the oldest three cent coins called "trismes?"
topstuf already did that joke.
boo. No way I was going to read more than three posts on a trime thread
I understand the humor, and agree with the situation.
But, so much of past numismatic information has been based on just that type of unsupported reference: "Snowden was said to have claimed to have said sometime...." (add your own statement of non-fact).
I'm probably too picky about such things for routine situations - after all, this is a casual hobby. Yet, to gain new collectors we have to be clear in what we say and as accurate as possible in relating events to coins and medals. After all, we are sticklers for assigning as design to the correct artist, or a coin to the correct year, or die pair.
It's a curious word, that's all. It fits.
Maybe "triscales" or "tricents" or "silver stars" or "stellas" or just "3-cent silver"
Yep, the fish scale term flopped around a bit then vanished largely after the alloy was changed.
Low, Green and Elder's use says more about trying to pump a "slow" denomination, than anything else. We've seen similar with unpopular coins from time to time.
The Quatloos of Triskelion?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gamesters_of_Triskelion
But-- they never told us what a "quatloo" was? If the Gamesters were so powerful, what need or use would there be for a quatloo of "Gold Pressed Latinum (Aurum urgentibusque Latinum) ?"
The only coin I've heard called a fish scale before reading this thread were the Canadian 5 Cent silvers!
This discussion reminds me of a weather man I heard some time ago where he referred to thunderstorms as "Thorms".
I like fish scales better than "trime" which seems to be a made up word, like "Verizon"
How about trilvers and trickels?
Kind regards,
George
Whaddya mean, "joke?"
Way I heard it was that the original trismes were struck from Abigail Van Buren's personal tea set.