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Sale 7
Lot 1436
1865 Nickel Three Cents. NGC graded Proof 66. As with most of the proofs from this year, the date is clearly doubled. Proof mintage has been estimated to be 500 coins, fewer than is subsequent years as collectors ordered more for their sets. The surfaces of this coin are splendid, a glass will note a tiny speck under UN of UNITED, but nothing else untoward. A delicate yellow-rose color predominates both sides, and the devices are fully frosted, contrasting well with the mirror fields. Important as the first year of issue, and certainly one of the very best known, populations as follows: NGC 13 in this grade, with a single coin graded higher, similar at PCGS, 24 in Proof 66, with a single coin graded higher. Therefore, this is one of the very finest available of the scarce proof issue of 1865. If you want a nearly perfect coin, then look no further than this lot.
The story behind the 3¢ copper (75%) and nickel (25%) three cent piece is fascinating. We summarize what's told in Breen's Encyclopedia pages 242-3. By March of 1864 the Philadelphia Mint was running out of nickel, which was mandated to be used in copper cents (12%). In 1863 alone the Mint used 32 tons of nickel, which at that time was a chemical curiosity, expensive and difficult to extract from ore. A new nickel mine had been opened to help alleviate the shortage, and the mines owner, Joseph Wharton sought Congressional help in assuring nickel would be used for coinage. However, Mint Director James Pollock, a bitter opponent to using nickel in coinage (nickel is a very hard metal, which shortens die life and is hard to work with to make coins), seized on the opportunity created by the nickel shortage to urge Congress to pass a bill eliminating nickel from coinage of 1¢, 2¢ and 3¢ coins, instead using French bronze. A bill was passed in April 1864, but a compromise was struck by Wharton's powerful friends in Congress, nickel was dropped from the 1¢ and 2¢ denominations, but not the 3¢ coins.
Wharton, the nickel promoter, wanted the 3¢ coin to be large, approximately the size of the old large cents, which were still in circulation at that time. This would have victimized the blind and illiterate as large cents could have been passed as 3¢ coins, even though the proposal would make the 3¢ coins a bit lighter, but approximately the same diameter of large cents. Pattern issues exist of the proposed 3¢ coin, which mercifully did not find approval.
Why 3¢? Not, as one might suppose, to replace the now vanished silver 3¢ coins, alias fish scales or trimes, or to reduce the number of cents needed for circulation, but the real need was to retire the 17 million 3¢ notes which plagued the nation. Everyone hated the notes, they were used to purchase stamps and other inexpensive items, the notes were the smallest denomination of the fractional currency notes, and quickly became foul things from circulating, turning to tattered rags. Known as "shinplasters" and the bane of the population, merchants found ways around them by striking the popular Civil War tokens ("copperheads") rather than use the wretched 3¢ paper. The irredeemable tokens were preferred to the shinplasters.
Wharton seized on the idea that his nickel could be used to replace the shinplasters by issuing a 3¢ nickel coin, thus removing the unpopular fractional paper from circulation, after which the notes could be cancelled. The proposed solution--any solution--was seen as better than what then existed, thus Congress passed the bill authorizing a new 3¢ coin of 25% nickel without debate, and the bill became law the same day, March 3, 1865. As expected, the 3¢ notes were redeemed for the new coins, and the three cent nickel pieces circulated widely. Mintages were tailed off after 1876, as most of the 3¢ notes had been redeemed by that time. Mintages ballooned again in 1881, for reasons unknown, perhaps Wharton had a big nickel surplus to supply to the Mint? Thus, the problem of the shinplasters was solved in the usual Congressional way, through a bit of favoritism and prompt action.
Estimated Value $6,000 - 7,000.
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| Realized $6,038 |
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