This lustrous medium orange-gold specimen has lively cartwheel activity on both sides and pools of pale rose and orange frost. The strike is sharp throughout the obverse though the reverse shows a touch of weakness at the bow, not unusual for the date or the design type. Distinct doubling at RICA on the obverse is apparent under low magnification; this disappears after the die is relapped. Curiously, doubling is also seen at BERTY in Liberty’s tiara, not seen on the 1886 offered above, nor on the 1888 to follow. It is not machine doubling, there are “notches” at the doubling rather than flat shelves. The 1887 $3 gold piece presents a curious situation. Though 6,000 circulation strikes are recorded, all delivered in December, only 140 to 180 examples of the date are thought to be extant in Mint State grades, seemingly a small survival rate when compared to the mintage. The Bowers-Winter reference suggests that some of the date’s mintage was never paid out and was later melted at the Mint, entirely probable as $3 coins were merely holiday gifts for the most part in this era. There are even fewer circulated $3s known, perhaps just 90 to 120 pieces all told. Many of those are only lightly circulated, perhaps representing pieces that were kept as souvenirs, though probably not by numismatists. The Harry W. Bass, Jr. Collection (Bowers and Merena, 1999) offered a nice PCGS-certified Mint State-65 example and the Richard Jewell Collection (American Numismatic Rarities, 2005) featured a Mint State-66 specimen. PCGS data indicate the largest populations of this date are in the MS-63 and MS-64 grades, reflecting the fact that many of these coins were saved as soon as they were struck. Gems remain very elusive, however. The present 1887 is a gem $3 of the finest order. Among those graded by PCGS, it has no peers. PCGS# 8009. NGC ID: 25NA.
