1862 Three Dollar Gold (1862 $3) NGC MS64. A splendid near gem survivor of this low mintage $3 gold piece. A total of 5,750 pieces were struck in this year, together with 35 proofs for collectors. The outbreak of the civil war in the previous year soon resulted in all silver and gold being taken from circulation. Mintages of coins soon declined, as the pieces were not really needed and would not circulate anyway. The $3 denomination, introduced in 1854 was never popular. The general public never got used to them, and with a few exceptions mintages were usually low. As a result, many issues are very rare, although they are still available as many were saved by collectors and banks. With the low mintages of these issues, survival rates are actually quite high. However, as they were almost always considered to be a curiosity, many were used in jewelry or otherwise mishandled, making higher graded coins such as this piece very scarce to rare.

After the civil war, circulation of this denomination completely ceased, causing mintages to be even lower then this piece. In 1875 and 1876, only proofs were made for collectors, and in other years circulation strikes were produced in very limited quantities. In 1881 for example, only 500 pieces were struck for circulation. These low mintages are one of the reasons this series is not much collected by date, with only a few major collections being exceptions.

The present piece, toned to a silvery gold color shows virtually no marks in the fields. Most of the details are brought up nicely, although it exhibits a slight weakness in the centers. Very lustrous, this is truly a wonderful example of this popular civil war date which is sure to delight the specialist.