Three Cents (Nickel)

The Three Cents (Nickel) piece was immediately popular, due to its large circulation in 1865 and its usefulness in replacing fractional currency.

Specifications

 * Designer: James Barton Longacre
 * Obverse Design:
 * Reverse Design:
 * Edge: Plain
 * Weight: ±1.9 grams
 * Diameter: ±17.9 millimeters
 * Composition:  Nickel (25%), Copper (75%)
 * Dates Minted: 1865-1889

Background
The Nickel 3-Cent piece was our nation’s second type of 3-cent coin. But the appearance of the Nickel 3-Cent piece in 1865 didn’t cut short the life span of the 3-Cent Silver coin. But it by circulating side by side with the 3-Cent Silver coin starting in 1865, and being struck in much larger numbers, the Nickel 3-Cent piece gradually phased out the 3-Cent Silver coin. After 1873, the Nickel 3-Cent piece was our nation’s only 3-cent coin, but its day’s too, were numbered.

There was a couple of reasons for the creation of a second type of 3-cent coin in 1865. The first reason was the Civil War: a nervous populace was hoarding silver coins, and that included even the tiny silver 3-cent coin. A 3-cent coin was clearly still needed, one, to drive out the proliferation of 3-cent paper notes, and also as a coin to be used to purchase postage just recently reduced from five cents to three cents. So since the silver 3-cent coin wasn’t circulating, nickel interests in the United States saw this as an opportunity to push for another U.S. nickel coin (we already had the copper-nickel one-cent coins of 1856-64). The Nickel 3-Cent piece was created.

History
The Nickel 3-Cent piece was designed by James B. Longacre, the same fellow who designed the 3-Cent Silver coin. This new 3-cent coin featured a much less abstract U.S. coin design than its 3-Cent Silver counterpart. The Nickel 3-Cent piece featured a left-facing Liberty bust with “Liberty” headband. On the reverse, three column-like roman numerals, “III” were centered boldly within a graceful wreath. Diameter-wise the Nickel 3-Cent piece was significantly larger than the 3-Cent Silver coin, roughly the same diameter as the small cent, but not as thick.

The first year of production saw the highest mintage for the series, by far. Some 11.3 million 1865 Nickel 3-Cent pieces were coined. That makes it a relatively common date, and a good deal easier to find than other dates in the series. But it is the first year of issue AND a Civil War date, so its priced the same as other more common dates in the series, even though its mintage is much higher. From 1866-68 mintages were in the 3 to 4 million range. From 1869-74 mintages ranged from a low of 604,000 (1871) to a high of 1.6 million (1869). From 1875-89, mintages for Nickel 3-Cent nickels continued to shrink, except for the date of 1881 when there was a burst of production with a little over 1 million Nickel 3-Cent pieces struck. Of the 1875-89 pieces (1881 excepted) only the moderately scarce 1875 and 1876 pieces had mintages over 41,000 pieces. In fact, the 1877 and 1878 3-cent coins, as well as the 1886 and 1887, were Proof only issues.

Collecting
The rare dates of the series would be the 1877, 1878, 1880, and 1882-87. A peg below, the scarce dates would include the 1879, 1888 and 1889. The rest of the dates retail for around $15-$20 in Good, $17.50-$28.50 in Fine.

For the collector, the really good news about this series is, they are not expensive in the higher grades! Apparently they did circulate, but not too many of them got worn out. The nickel alloy seemed to hold up well. Consider that you can get a common-date Nickel 3-Cent piece in Very Fine for around $24.50-$34! An Extra Fine example only retails $35-$40! Even in About Uncirculated, the first six dates in the series retail only $57-$65! We’re talking about a U.S. coin that was circulating in the 1860’s! Perhaps the only other U.S. coin series from that time period that high grades can be purchased that inexpensively, would be the copper-nickel Indian Head cents. But the Nickel 3-Cent piece has the added bonus of being an obsolete odd U.S. coin denomination. These pieces have to be considered under-valued, under-appreciated bargains!

Grading
Nicer Nickel 3-Cent pieces will have strong eye, mouth and hair detail on the obverse. “Liberty” should be readable. On the reverse, the inner lines on the “III” columns should be mostly intact. The wreath should have intricate detail. Obviously the date and legend will be bold.

Due to declining mintages, especially into the mid-1870’s, it’s clear that the public wasn’t spending the 3-cent coin like they used to. They were still considered fairly small coins, and not too convenient to keep track of. And since our nation’s coinage system was based on the decimal system, it made less and less sense to have a 3-cent coin. After 1889, the Nickel 3-cent coin was no more. With its demise, so ended the era of odd denominations that began with the half cent in 1793, and continued on with half dimes (1794-1873), two-cent pieces (1864-73), three-cent silver pieces (1851-73), twenty-cent pieces (1875-78). The Nickel 3-Cent piece is the last of the “odd denomination” coins.

Mints

 * Philadelphia Mint (No mintmark)