1880 Three-Dollar Gold Piece. MS-65 PL (PCGS). As the only 1880 $3 certified in the PL category at PCGS, here is a very significant example of this legendary low mintage issue. It is a numismatic treasure, with vivid light golden-orange color on smartly impressed surfaces. Both sides display lovely contrast between semi-reflective fields and satiny design elements, and the entire coin as smooth and attractive as one would expect at the Gem Mint State level. Only 1,000 circulation strikes were produced for the 1880 three-dollar gold piece and only 36 Proofs were produced. No matter the format you will be hard pressed to find an attractive example in any grade. Early 20th century dealer Henry Chapman insisted that much of the circulation strike mintage remained at the Mint and was later melted. As sometimes noted in other numismatic sources, the 2005 Bowers-Winter reference on the series suggests that there are 140 to 170 or so examples in Mint State, as here, but only 35 to 45 circulated survivors. A century and more ago Thomas L. Elder was well known for finding $3 gold coins at banks and in jewelers inventories and is rumored to have "saved" several hundred pieces from destruction through melting. Many of those were dated 1879 and 1880, and many ended up with Chicago coin dealer Ben G. Green and notable collector John Beck. The present beauty may have been one of the Elder-Green-Beck pieces, though we are romanticizing here and have no way of knowing this coins earliest provenance. One thing is certain, however - the present 1880 three-dollar gold piece is exceptionally attractive and worthy of inclusion in the finest cabinet of the denomination. From the Huberman Collection. Acquired from Beacon Hill Coin, March 1966.
