This memorable 1856-S is a glittering deep orange-gold specimen with lively rose iridescence throughout completely prooflike surfaces. The devices are frosty and the fields largely reflective, suggesting this was an early strike. The press run of 34,500 pieces is significantly higher than the $3 mintage in San Francisco the preceding year. The Medium S mintmark leans left, 1 of date immediately below O in DOLLARS, die flaw at base of second L of that word. A smartly impressed $3 of the date with essentially complete design motifs on each side. The fields exhibit some light hay marks which would be completely hidden had the surfaces been frosty instead of reflective. Two natural planchet flakes, as struck, run from the tops of the ostrich plumes to just below OF on the obverse, and an even tinier flake is seen just left of the first bead in the bottom row of beads on Liberty’s tiara. On the reverse a tiny crease underscores the 6 in the date; otherwise there are only some trivial hairlines to be seen. Nearly 600 pieces of this variety can be found today. Of those coins, just a dozen or slightly more examples are found in true Mint State, with the Pogue Collection coin at the top of the PCGS Population Report. The Jewell Collection (American Numismatic Rarities, 2005) featured a pleasing MS-64 example of the date certified by NGC, a coin that still remains at the top of the NGC Census. Like so many other D. Brent Pogue coins this is the finest quality you can ever expect to own. PCGS# 7975. NGC ID: 25M9.
