1879 Three-Dollar Gold Piece. MS-65 (PCGS). CMQ.

Delightful golden-orange surfaces with lively frosty to modestly semi-prooflike luster on both sides of this lovely and captivating Gem example. It soon became evident that, even though the market achieved parity between gold coins and paper currency 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 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.

PCGS# 8001. NGC ID: 25N2.