Silver Three Cents (1851-1873)
Silver Three Cents (1851-1873): identify, compare, and value
Use this page to identify details collectors compare, understand value clues, and check current market examples.
Value Guide Summary
Use this page to understand what this collectible is, what details collectors usually compare, and where to check current market examples.
What collectors look for
Original condition, age, maker marks, materials, completeness, unusual variants, and documented history usually matter most.
How to identify examples
Compare markings, construction details, finish, size, period-correct materials, and known design features before assuming authenticity.
Value clues
Rarity, demand, condition, eye appeal, provenance, and whether similar examples are actively selling can all affect market value.
Red flags
Watch for reproductions, heavy restoration, replaced parts, fantasy pieces, unclear photos, and listings with vague descriptions.
The Silver Three Cents coin, minted from 1851 to 1873, holds a unique place in American numismatic history.
Following the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848, thousands of fortune-seekers swarmed to California. The "Forty-Niners" and others who followed them mined enormous quantities of gold. That, in turn, had a direct impact on U.S. coinage: The massive new supplies of gold depressed that metal's value in relation to silver, leading to widespread hoarding of silver coins. Put another way, a rapid rise occurred in the price of silver, as figured in gold dollars. It became profitable to hoard and melt silver coins, since they were worth more as metal than as money. Conversely, hardly anyone was bringing newly mined silver to the Mint for conversion into coinage, as had been the practice up to then. That helped limit production, further restricting supplies of silver coins.
By 1851, hardly any silver coins remained in circulation, creating a real problem for merchants and their customers. The only coins available for making change in amounts less than a dollar were copper large cents and half cents, which most people found extremely inconvenient; there wasn't even a "nickel" as we know it today, since the five-cent coin in use at the time was the silver half dime. As luck would have it, federal officials were then in the midst of reducing the basic prepaid postal rate from five cents to three cents. Senator Daniel Stevens Dickinson of New York concluded, logically enough, that a three-cent coin would be a useful way to purchase stamps.
Type 1: No Outline Around Star (1851-1853)
At that time, most Americans were uncomfortable with the notion of fiat money (money worth substantially less intrinsically than its face value) so they surely would have rejected a base-metal three-cent piece with only, say, a cent's worth of copper. On the other hand, a precious-metal coin made from the alloy then being used in existing silver coins (90-percent silver and 10-percent copper) might have been subject to the same kind of hoarding and melting. Dickinson and his allies hit upon a compromise: a three-cent coin with enough precious metal to avoid being thought of as fiat money but not enough to draw the interest of hoarders. The alloy they selected was 75-percent silver and 25-percent copper (or debased precious metal). This proposal became law as the Act of March 3, 1851, taking effect June 30 of that year.
The job of designing the coin fell to James Barton Longacre, who had become the Mint's chief engraver seven years earlier. Its small size made his job extremely difficult. Even allowing for that, few have ever found this coin artistically compelling. Its obverse depicts a nationalistic shield superimposed upon a six-pointed star. This is encircled by the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the date. The reverse bears the statement of value in the form of the Roman numeral III within a stylized, beaded "C." Thirteen stars along the reverse border complete the design.
Type 2: Double Outline Around Star (1854-1858)
