A question for the experts out there: When did the various oddball denominations cease to circulate to any extent? I'm talking about the 2-cent piece, silver and nickel 3-cent pieces, even the half dimes. I know why the 20-cent pieces didn't circulate. But what about the ones I mentioned? The reason I ask is this (and I've told this story here before): My grandmother once gave me an 1878 nickel 3-cent piece. She was shocked when I told her the value of that coin, she had absolutely no idea. It was an impaired proof (2,350 minted--proofs only) that probably would have graded XF as it had very little wear. I sold it for $900 about 40 years ago to buy an engagement ring for a girl I ended up breaking up with (BAD decision!!!) Since she did not come to the USA until about 1923, I wonder how in the world did she get it? I never asked her. Were these coins still circulating in the 1920s? When did they stop circulating? Maybe one of the experts here has some insight. Thanks!
I'm not an expert, but from what I've read, after the gold rush of 1849, the abundance of gold drove up the relative price of silver. Silver coins became worth more than their gold counterparts and quickly disappeared from circulation (Gresham's Law). To address this critical coin shortage, the Mint needed coins with a lesser silver content so they would stay in circulation. The first coin to address this need was the 3¢ "trime". It was so small and thin, it was popularly called a "fish scale". This denomination was chosen due to it convertibility to the 3¢ U.S. postage stamp. Later, in 1853, a new set of coins from 5¢ to 50¢ were designed with reduced silver content (about 7% less) to meet the needs of commerce. I just assumed that the 2¢ never caught on and didn't circulate. I'm not 100% sure why the 3¢ trime stopped being produced, but I suspect it's related the reduction in postal rates in 1883 along with a plentiful supply of alternative coins. I would recommend a book entitled "History of the United States Mint and its Coinage" (by David W. Lange) to anyone interested in the stories behind the coins. It's a page-turner!
The last three cent coins were minted for circulation(only 19k mintage) in 1889: Even by then they were pretty well out of circulation but apocryphally they did circulate in small numbers into the early 20th century. On a more personal note, when I was a kid my grandfather gave me an 1867 2 cent piece that he had had for almost 80 years. The story was that when he was six years old in 1897 he lost his pinkie finger in a cornshucker and his brother gave him the coin to spend at the grocery store for candy in town when they went in to see the doctor. Instead of spending it, he saved it and gave it to me when I started collecting coins. So apparently even some years after the 2 cent coins were minted they did see some usage later on.
When I was a kid in the 60s and early 70s, my brother and I would search bank rolls for mercury dimes, buffalo nickels, and any silver quarters we could find. People then seemed to think Wheat cents were more valuable than Memorial cents so they were pulled from circulation, too. You may be lucky to find one of these coins today, but probably one that was pulled from circulation years earlier. Thirty (30) years seems to be about the average time a coin design remains in circulation. I suspect the oddball denominations, like the 2¢ or 3¢ pieces, would disappear from circulation the quickest. The Mint reminds me of Clark Griswald dragging the Cent on a leash behind the car. I think there will be a Numismatic Renaissance once the U.S. Mint follows Canada's lead and stop making the 1¢ coin...and kids start searching bank rolls to complete a finite collection.
Maybe nobody would use them in enough quantity to make it practical to continue manufacturing, coupled with changes in material cost and manufacturing cost and inflation and deflation and global acceptance of base metal value, change in gold/silver value including on the world trade market and fiat money manipulation, etc.
