1879 $3 MS(PCGS#8001)

Summer 2026 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

2266

Grade

MS65

Price

14,640

Lot Description

An amazing Gem. Vivid golden-apricot surfaces exhibit lively frosty to semi-prooflike luster. There are no individually mentionable marks, and few of even a trivial nature. Sharply struck and highly appealing.<p>It soon became evident that, even though the market achieved parity between gold coins and paper currency for the first time since early in the Civil War on December 17, 1878, contemporary Americans had little desire to exchange their bills for three-dollar gold pieces. The year 1879 actually marks the beginning of the end for this commercially unpopular denomination, for after achieving a relatively generous mintage of 82,304 circulation strikes in 1878, production at the Philadelphia Mint plummeted once again in 1879. Only 3,000 coins were delivered for potential commercial use that year, few of which were actually paid out to banks. Several hundred Mint State survivors are known, nonetheless, these likely representing coins that were set aside as numismatic keepsakes or snatched up by dealers and other speculators during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.