The portrait Miss Liberty is front and center in a satiny yellow-gold field, affording a cameo-like appearance on the obverse of this superb 1865 $3. Warm orange-gold iridescence mingles with appealing cartwheels on both sides. The frosty reverse, which is as beautiful as the obverse, is less cameo-like. The overall presentation is extraordinary for a $3 of this date. The strike is needle-sharp on the obverse with every plume, bead, and hair strand in full relief. The reverse is sharp throughout except for the vertical line in the bow. Only 1,140 examples of this date were struck for circulation, and only about 100 have survived in all grades, typically in VF or slightly finer. Indeed, the Bowers-Winter reference considers this the rarest Philadelphia date in the series up to this point. That a $3 piece of this caliber from the final year of the Civil War would survive is a matter of great fortune. No doubt sometime around 1865 this coin was put aside by a collector and was evidently lovingly cared for over the years, as contact marks or blemishes of any sort are all but non-existent. The obverse offers diagonal die striae though the reverse is clear of any such lines. We note a tiny nick on Liberty’s jawline and another of equal insignificance at the front center of her neckline. On the reverse the only marks of any size are seen at the bottom serifs of LAR where another coin may have come in contact. As was the case in the several years leading up to 1865, the Philadelphia Mint sent two dies for the denomination to San Francisco but no $3s were forthcoming. PCGS# 7986. NGC ID: 25ML.
