1860 Three-Dollar Gold Piece. MS-62 (PCGS).A smartly impressed, sharply to fully defined example with handsome medium gold patina to both sides. Lustrous and frosty. The Philadelphia Mint delivered 7,036 three-dollar gold coins for commercial use in 1860, many of which were likely melted after Northern banks suspended gold specie payments in December 1861. Several hundred circulated survivors are known, however, these almost certainly seeing commercial use on the West Coast, where gold remained in circulation throughout the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Mint State examples are far rarer, most surviving as a matter of chance. Among the finer 1860 threes that we have handled in recent years, this endearing BU coin is a highlight of the extensive gold offerings in this sale.From the Maurice Snow Collection. Acquired from Harry J. Forman, July 1979. Earlier ex Paramount.
