1854 Three-Dollar Gold Piece. MS-63 (PCGS). This is a lovely Choice Mint State example with vivid golden-apricot surfaces. Lustrous with a satin to softly frosted texture and featuring bold to sharp striking detail. An appealing three-dollar gold piece that will be just right for an Uncirculated gold type set or another specialized collection of this challenging odd denomination.<p>Today in retrospect it is puzzling that three-dollar gold coins were ever issued in the first place, considering that the quarter eagle of similar value had been struck since 1796. But issued they were, under authorization of the Act of February 21, 1853. Some numismatists have suggested that the owner of a three-dollar gold piece could have purchased a sheet of 100 three-cent stamps without requiring change, or could go to a bank and easily obtain 100 silver three-cent pieces.<p>In this, the first year of coinage, the Philadelphia Mint struck 138,618 circulation strikes -- a figure that would stand as the highest production in the series. The 1854 is a one-year-only design type with the denomination, DOLLARS, in particularly small letters. The mints at Philadelphia, Dahlonega, and New Orleans all struck and issued the $3 denomination in 1854 with the small DOLLARS reverse lettering style. From 1855 until the close of the series in 1889, the word DOLLARS appears in noticeably larger letters. The vast majority of 1854 $3 gold coins offered in the last decade or so have been EF and AU, occasionally Mint State, but seldom as nice as the coin offered here. From the Huberman Collection. Earlier ex our (Stacks) Collections of James Walter Carter & Margaret Woolfolk Carter sale, January 1986, lot 106. Lot tag included.
