This exquisite 1856 $3 displays deep honey-gold surfaces accented with bursts of rich and satiny yellow frost. The fields are immaculate and the strike is about as fine as ever seen for any date in the design type, fresh and crisp in the ostrich plumes and Liberty’s tresses, and equally nice on the reverse where just a hint of weakness is seen at the top of the bow. Full JBL on Liberty’s truncation signifies an early and unlapped state of the die. Low magnification and a bold light source reveal few blemishes of any measure though we do note a faint mark on Miss Liberty’s cheek that comes into view at just the right angle. A tiny deep blue-rose toning splash is noted in the field just opposite the leftmost bottom bead on Liberty’s tiara, and an even smaller nick adjoins the toning. Other than a faint patch of natural planchet roughness at UN, as struck, there are no other marks or blemishes to report. The reverse has even fewer marks than the obverse, with just a tiny tick in the field above the second L in DOLLARS. Four pairs of dies were made for use in Philadelphia in 1856, but only two reverse dies were used. These include what are called today the Low Date and High Date varieties. The present gem Mint State piece is of the Low Date style, though there is not much space between DOLLARS and the bow below for these differences to be immediately noticeable. The 1 of the date is immediately centered below the O in DOLLARS; on the High Date variety the 1 is beneath the right side of the O. All of the $3s of the date were delivered in two batches in April of the year; perhaps they were from the two different reverses. PCGS# 7974. NGC ID: 25M8.
