1865 $3 MS(PCGS#7986)

1865 $3 MS (PCGS#7986)

Summer 2026 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Lot Description: This is an exciting opportunity for the specialist, as it presents a lovely CAC-approved Choice About Uncirculated example of a circulation strike three-dollar gold issue that is seldom encountered in any grade. Handsome honey-orange and rose-gold surfaces retain faint semi-prooflike traces, generally in the protected areas around the design elements. Otherwise we note a frosty texture to both sides, and the design elements are universally sharp with only very light wear. Wispy handling marks are not out of context for the assigned grade, and none are sizable or otherwise warrant individual attention.<p>By 1865, the final year of the Civil War, gold coins had been absent from circulation in the East and Midwest for three years. Little bullion reached the Mint for new coinage during that time and the three-dollar gold piece, unpopular almost from its introduction in 1854, was particularly hard hit. Circulation strike coinage amounted to just 1,140 pieces in 1865, this being the rarest issue of the type produced up to that time. The present example is among the finer certified of just 100 to 150 circulated coins believed extant, and it is sure to have no difficulty finding its way into an advanced gold cabinet.