United States Three Cent Coin

A three cent coin was produced by the

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1858 Silver
Three Cent Piece
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United States Mint from 1851 to 1889. Two different three cent pieces were made during this time span: The three cent silver (1851-1873) and the three cent nickel (1865-1889).

These unusual coins were first introduced to try to put some coins back into circulation as silver coins were being hoarded because they were worth more for the silver content than their face value. This caused a shortage of coins needed for day to day purchases.

Government officials decided to introduce a coin that would be considered valuable to people but not valuable enough that they would hoard them or melt them down.

So, the three cent silver, made of 75% silver, was produced to try to get more coins into circulation.

The silver three cent piece was a very small coin.

In fact, it is the smallest US silver coin ever made. It's silver color, along with it smallness of size earned it the nickname "fishscales".

At about the same time, postage rates were lowered from five cents to three cents so it was decided that a three cent coin would be a good choice.

Since one cent coins were not considered legal tenderLegal Tender
Coins or currency which, by law, must be accepted as payment of a debt. during this time, they were not accepted for postage purchases.

At the same time, people did not want to let go of their silver coins to purchase postage because they knew they would probably get copper one cent coins as change, so the three cent silver coin was welcomed.

This three cent silver coin was made until 1873, and was also referred to as a trime.

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Silver Three Cent Coin - Type 1

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1851 Three Cent Silver Type 1

Type	Three Cent Silver - Type 1
Designer	James B. Longacre
Years Minted	1851-1853
Weight	.80 grams
Composition	75% silver, 25% copper
Diameter	14 mm
Edge	plain
Mints	Philadelphia - no mint mark New Orleans - O
Mintage	Year 1851 1852 1853 Philadelphia 5,447,400 18,663,500 11,400,000 New Orleans-O 720,000 0 0

Silver Three Cent Coin - Type 2

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1858 Three Cent Silver Type 2

Type	Three Cent Silver - Type 2
Designer	James B. Longacre
Years Minted	1854-1858
Weight	.75 grams
Composition	90% silver, 10% copper
Diameter	14 mm
Edge	plain
Mints	Philadelphia - no mint mark
Mintage	1854 - 671,000 1855 - 139,000 1856 - 1,458,000 1857 - 1,042,000 1858 - 1,603,700

Silver Three Cent Coin - Type 3

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1861 Three Cent Silver Type 3

Type	Three Cent Silver - Type 3
Designer	James B. Longacre
Years Minted	1859-1873
Weight	.75 grams
Composition	90% silver, 10% copper
Diameter	14 mm
Edge	plain
Mints	Philadelphia - no mint mark
Mintage	1859- 364,200 1860 - 286,000 1861 - 497,000 1862 - 343,000 1863 - 21,000 1864 - 12,000 1865 - 8,000 1866 - 22,000 1867 - 4,000 1868 - 3,500 1869 - 4,500 1870 - 3,000 1871 - 3,400 1872 - 1,000 1873 - proofs only

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Nickel Three Cent Coin

A three cent nickel coin was introduced in 1865. It was produced by the Philadelphia Mint until 1889. It was a little larger than the trime and was made of a copper-nickel (75% cooper and 25% nickel) alloy. It was about the size of a modern dime and was called the Three Cent Nickel.

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1873 Three Cent Nickel

Type	Three Cent Nickel
Designer	James B. Longacre
Years Minted	1865-1889
Weight	1.94 grams
Composition	75% copper, 25% nickel
Diameter	17.9 mm
Edge	plain
Mints	Philadelphia - no mint mark
Mintage	1865 - 11,382,000 1866 - 4,801,000 1867 - 3,915,000 1868 - 3,252,000 1869 - 1,604,000 1870 - 1,335,000 1871 - 604,000 1872 - 862,000 1873, Close 3 - 390,000 1873, Open 3 - 783,000 1874 - 790,000 1875 - 228,000 1876 - 162,000 1877 - proofs only 1878 - proofs only 1879 - 38,000 1880 - 21,000 1881 - 1,077,000 1882 - 22,200 1883 - 4,000 1884 - 1,700 1885 - 1,000 1886 - proofs only 1887 - 5,001 1888 - 36,501 1889 - 18,125

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