My Entry into @welshstacker Share your Coin Challenge
#sycc #welshie
I saw that are good friend and awesome community member @welshstacker poster to share your old and precious coin challenge. I decided I should dig through and find something to share. I believe I went with my oldest coin that I find and it also happens to be my smallest.
My Choice 1852 Silver Trime - Silver Three Cent
- Mintage: 16,663,500
- Weight: .80 Grams
- Diameter: 14.3 Millimeters
- Mint: Philadelphia
- Metal: 75% Silver, 25% Copper
- Designer: James Barton Longacre
Given how small it is, I think it terribly hard to photograph. I could not get the light correct, or get the camera to pick the right focal point. Hopefully I didnt zoom in too much, while still showing the details.
When I bought it, and how much I paid....
Let's be honest, I no longer have any record collection of when I bought certain coins and how much I paid. I used to keep track of everything in the spreadsheet, and that was easy to do when you first start out. But as many collectors realize as time goes on it doesn't really matter when you bought it or how much you pay because you have no intention of letting go unless you happen to upgrade. And if you upgrade, then all you're going to do is sell your current one at whatever the market rate is.
I did get an affinity for 3 cent coins as they were one of the odd coins that I started with when I took over a small collection of coins for my grandfather. Seen both 3 cent coins in 3 cent silver times I kind of started going overboard and buying a ton of these. This is one of the nicer ones that I got although you can clearly see that there are some pretty good scratches on the adverse.
Why a Three Cent - Why Did we even Make it?
The 3 cent coin is a odd one for sure. It had a relatively short run and hit the very odd denomination of coins. While it's true that we had a half cent, sent, 2 cent there doesn't seem to be much of a need for a three cent from a spending and change perspective when you can go to the half dime / nickel.
The interesting wrinkle is that when the 3 cent coin was created and minted it was a very common item that was bought that was priced at 3 cents. They almost been to coined especially as a currency to buy postage. Posted rates moved to 3 cents, and there was a need and a desire for people to be able to have an easy way to buy postage in a small denomination easy to handle coin.
The silver times were minted from 1865 to 1873 when they then switched over to the three cent nickel that ran until 1889. Unfortunately like most money issued when they made the switch in 1873 they no longer used silver as a base metal replaced it with nickel. The size also in creased to make it a bit easier to keep track of and not lose.
Reverse
I think the reverse design is very interesting. A large sea with the Roman numeral 3 on the inside with a border of stars. It has a good amount of detail considering how small of the surface they're working with
Obverse
The obverse is the real star of the show. With a very detailed shield on a six-pointed star. Considering that these were made of silver and their size many of these took heavy wear damage from use and very few survived and survived in any decent condition.
One of my favorite odd coins to collect
3 cent coins is one of my favorite out of print denominations to collect. I love the fact that they're no longer produced and I actually think both of the designs are really good. They have a lot of detail and are the older variety of coin designs that I like unlike the more modern designs.
Thanks again to @welshstacker for the challenge - I look forward to the next one, and starting to get back into my collection a bit more this year.
