Three Cent Copper / Nickel" see what you're missing"

One of my favorite series to collect is the U.S. Three Cent Copper /Nickel. A series that many pay no attention to. Here's a few images to show you what you may be missing collecting this series.
Now the series is known for a few varieties. Misplaced dates, Repunched dates,DDO's,DDR's,and even an over date.
One should never over look this series as many dealers are more than happy to deal on a coin that sparks very little interest to most collectors.
The mintage starting in 1865 was a very high mintage 11,382,000 this date is fairly easy to pick up in XF - unc. coins for a reasonable price.
These little gems were struck post Civil War in .750 copper and .250 nickel.1.94 grams,17.9 mm plain edge all coined in Philadelphia. These were struck to increase coinage into circulation post war.
Here are two of my 1865's that have a lot going on. If you like varieties, die cracks and clashes then these are the coins you want to look at.
Notice the red arrows that point out the full profile of Liberty face,as well as the back of her head.

This next image another 1865 III notice as marked by the red arrows the clash of the III Roman numerals to the front of Liberty face as well as behind her neck. The clash below her and somewhat in the date is the Ribbon knot from the reverse. The rest of the wreath is seen in and out of America as well as a small cud on the rim over the R in America.

You can see in this image that the O in of has been recut. The arrows point out the inner O in the oval of the primary .

A die crack runs on the obv. side from the rim just above her hat down through her profile.



The numbers in the date show signs of being repunched.


This 1866 Three cent shows a cud as well as a repunched 6 in the date, there's also a clash in front of Liberty's face. Longacer doubling also seen on the lettering.

The 1867 shows die cracks running through the date.

 

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I see at least two and maybe three retained cuds on that one - note the obvious denticle displacement under the 86 and U. Crazy.

 

nice write up i like these as well, i only have 3 of these so far, all are clashed on both obv. and rev.

 

1865 must have quite a few full profile clashes on the reverse . Even so a really neat clash,and a cool coin to own. As your second image is a full profile clash.

 

3CN's are a fascinating series. Imagine collecting a date set where a few issues make more sense to purchase in Proof.

You can find one demonstrating just about every possible violent event that could happen to a die. It's like watching the Mint learn to work with nickel.

 

So true like the dry run for shield nickels.

 

You've got some beauties there! Nice clash

 

New Market???
Great score!!!! get graded buddy.

 

Die clashes are very common for that series.

 

My only BU example is an 1865 that has a clashed die. As the OP notes this series was notable for the amount of errors present on the coins - face it, the US mint had a lot of difficulties with striking coins in even 75% copper 25% nickel as the metal was much harder than bronze, silver, gold etc that they had decades of experience striking. The shield type nickels were the other stinker from that era, I haven't found one nice enough in the rays variety yet that I had pulled the trigger.


I have several circulated trimes, my favourite though is the 1889 in VF - most of those coins are in BU or proof, not many from that date actually saw circulation.

 

That's a very high VF.....at least a 30-35. Plenty of meat on that bone.

 

Another recurring event on these little gems is the two die breaks the occur at the bottom of the first set of leaves at the top of the rim. I would say @10 & 2 but not quite those locations but close.
I see these almost symmetrical breaks a lot.
I'm going to find some reference book on these I believe Kevin Flynn has one out.

 

1889 is one of my favourite years for USA coinage, the last year for the trime, the gold dollar and the $3 coin.

 

Hi Paddy54 I have a trime you might be interested in. I don't know much about it. Maybe you could tell me more? I am unaware of value as well. Very cool coins!

 

Hi Parker first welcome to the forum . The 1865 was the first year the nickel three cent piece was minted. They were a high mintage post Civil war era ,where coinage was needed in the population hands.
Looking at your specimen I see clashes ,possible strike through , or damage that to my eyes looks to be from the mint.
My take and I will wait to see what others may post is this is a very late state coin . There are several things I see that makes me believe that. One is the clashed dies , you can see the Roman numeral base under Liberty's chin and also behind her head. Next is broken letters" the D " in United. There's also Longacre doubling on more of the letters on the obv.
The face of Liberty I believe to be one of two things a strike through or ejection damage. To be honest I am not sure.
You coin doesn't looked cleaned ,hare to tell with your images ,but looks like there's plenty of luster ,and no hair lines to my eyes.
Your coin on the rev. The wreath looks well struck,yet there's no details on the lll Roman numerals that should show vertical lines top to bottom only seen on the last digit.
I believe that this die was at the end of its life. From all that's going on ,each side.
I like it as it skin looks natural to me. The scrape on her face looks like it was done during the minting, others may say post mint damage.
What makes me think that is there's orange peel on the skin in places, die cracks, die clashes, and that scrape .
So to sum up my thoughts a die that banged out a lot of coins just before it was ready to explode . However a nice extremely late die state coin, in Au or better shape with tons of stuff going on!
I like it a lot..... this series is most often over looked by collectors ,except for their type set. But you can enjoy collecting these as there not a lot of competition. So variety coins can be found at reasonable prices.

 

Wow! You are very knowledgeable! That is too cool I'll definitely keep this in my little collection. Thank you, Paddy for an awesome breakdown of the history of my coin it is much appreciated! And thank you for welcoming me to the forum, I am excited looking forward to some neat stuff. I have some other coins I'd love to have some users take a look at. These include: a very nice flying eagle, a very small 1804 draped bust coin that i don't know the denomination of, some IHC (possibly 1871), and others. What is the best route to take if you don't mind my asking. Sorry I'm new here. Again, thank you for taking the time to respond!

 

Just post your coins and then you can tag the post.
By tagging the post it will send me a message to come have a look. To tag a post just do a @ and the name of the person you wish to tag. Like this @Paddy54 or whom ever you wish to tag.
Will be around this evening I'm working a all natural and organic food show today. Enjoy the forum lots of cool stuff here to read.

I'm thinking that Liberty's face was a strike through grease,as well the die took one heck of a bounce after striking. Another item is the die cracks between 10 and 2 I see breaks like these on both the obv. And rev. On quite a few 1865 three cent nickels.

 

Looks to me like the huge clashing event that put all the transfer detail on the obverse destroyed the reverse die, as there's no clashing on it. A clash hard enough to do that to the obverse should do the same to the reverse.

Unfortunately, I think this one's been so heavily polished that that's the cause of the missing detail. Consider the "shine" on the flatter areas of the obverse and in the roman numerals; those are recessed areas in the die and tools cannot reach into there even if you're trying to polish away clashing artifacts.

You can see evidence of what was being removed by this harsh cleaning if you look closely. Above 65 in the date and in STAT on the obverse, and at various areas around the wreath, right next to the denticles and around the roman numerals on the reverse. This coin must have been nearly black at one time to have been polished like this.

 

I like your 1867 Paddy, here's mine.

 

Nice one Dave you to love these little coins a lot of bang for the buck I think . Very nice specimen you have there.