CoinCorgi's Three Cent Pieces (Silver and Nickel)

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by CoinCorgi, Sep 4, 2019.

  1. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    I own only 1 Silver Three Cent Piece (info).

    Bought this one slabbed quite awhile back. But it is free now. Be free, free, free! Tell me what grade you think it is, and then tell me what grade you think was given to it.

    Not too pleased with the pictures I've taken, but still I think they do the surfaces justice.

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    I own only 1 Nickel Three Cent Piece (info). I inherited this coin from my Mom who got me started collecting coins as a young whipper snapper. I like it and it fits into my Type Set proudly.

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  3. Hookman

    Hookman Well-Known Member

    1st one XF 46
    2nd one AU 58

    I have several of your first. None as good as yours. And I have none of your second.
     
  4. Beanboon

    Beanboon Member

    Xf 40 first one and au 50 second one
     
  5. Beanboon

    Beanboon Member

    actually change that to au 55 second one
     
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  6. C-B-D

    C-B-D Well-Known Member

    AU50
    AU55

    Both are pretty well struck, IMO. The 51-O is usually a very muddy strike. Yours has central weakness on the obverse, but overall is very nice for the date/grade.
     
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  7. Heavymetal

    Heavymetal Well-Known Member

    62E30006-5B06-4886-9647-241081388720.jpeg CE2C850B-E57D-4753-B36A-D538C5CE7BD6.jpeg That’s a beauty! Mine had a little mishap about 150 year ago. Was in with some old foreign coins that were given to me for helping an 88 yo man dispose of his collection. Showed him, he said enjoy
     
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  8. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    The 1851-O trime has long been one of my favorites. I would grade that one EF-45, but it was probably in an AU-50 holder. The 1872 Nickel Three Cent Piece has AU sharpness, but the fields concern me. It have been cleaned. If it straight grades, AU-55 sharpness.
     
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  9. Treashunt

    Treashunt The Other Frank

    neither seems to have luster.

    1) VF-35
    2) XF-40
     
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  10. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    I think that there might be some luster between the letters in "UNITED" and "AMERICA" on the trime. I have found that with a lot of photos that are taken at a 90 degree angle above the coin from a single light source, the luster is muted muted or missing in the picture even though it is there.
     
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  11. Johndoe2000$

    Johndoe2000$ Well-Known Member

  12. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    Interesting responses on the Silver Three Cent. NGC gave it a VF35. Maybe my pictures made it look better than it is, because I agree with NGC when looking at it in hand.

    The Nickel Three Cent is raw so no TPG grade to compare to.
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2019
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  13. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    After 150+ years a lot of things have lost their luster! lol :)
     
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  14. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    The Silver Three Cent Piece is an unusual coin, The Type I (1851 - 3) was made of a 75% silver, 25 copper alloy. I have found a good number of Mint State coins to be unacceptable because that alloy is very prone to developing ugly black spots. The coins are frequently weakly struck on the center, in the shield area. The planchets were so thin that there was not enough metal to fill the dies.

    The Type II (1854 – 8) was 90% silver like the rest of the U.S. silver coins of the era. The design was made more complex, perhaps to discourage counterfeiting, with three lines around the star. This type did not strike up well. It is also harder to find and more expensive, grade for grade, than the other two types.

    The Type III (1859 – 73) design solved the strike issue. There are two lines around the star. The series was okay until the Civil War broke out in 1861. Virtually all of the silver coins, including the Silver Three Cent Pieces, were withdrawn from circulation. They were hoarded or traded at more than their face value for the duration of the war.

    The Silver Three Cent Piece never made it back to circulation. Much of the business strike population (1863 - 1873) that the government produced and held in its vaults was melted. The vast majority of pieces that are available to collectors today are Proofs. The Mint State coins are hard to find. I only bought and sold two of them when I was a dealer.

    The Nickel Three Cent Piece was authorized as a replacement for the three Fractional Currency note. Those little notes were unpopular, and the government was looking for a way to redeem and replace them with a coin. The nickel five cent piece was introduced at about the same time for the same purpose.

    If there is interest, I will post pictures of three types of Silver Three Cent Pieces.

    Here is an example of the three cent Fractional Currency note.

    Frac 3rd 3 F.jpg Frac 3rd 3 B.jpg
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2019
  15. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    @CoinCorgi

    Maybe NGC down graded your coin because of the reverse. The obverse looks better than VF-35 to me.
     
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  16. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

  17. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    Does the Nickel have a slightly off center obverse die?
     
  18. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    It is slightly off-center, but not enough to command a premium.
     
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  19. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    Here is a link to @johnmilton's thread on three cent pieces.
     
  20. buckeye73

    buckeye73 Well-Known Member

    1851-O :
    My opinion of grade XF 45
    Estimate of TPG AU 50
    My opinion of 1872 grade AU 55
    Very nice coins! Congrats
     
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  21. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    If you haven't already, scroll up and you'll see that NGC graded it VF35.
     
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