1879 $3 (1879 Three Dollar Gold) NGC PF65 CAM. This spectacular, extremely rare, gem 1879 Three Dollar Piece is tied for finest certified cameo proof at NGC and PCGS. The coin shows lustrous, satiny devices contrasting with dark fields to create the cameo effect. The strike is full, as expected for a proof coin, so that every detail is sharp and clear. These include the ends of the feathers on Libertys crown, the strands of her hair, the wreath details, the digits of the date, and the ribbon knot. The surfaces are clean and original for the grade with no distractions worthy of mention. The obverse die shows some rust pits, diagnostic for the proofs, because it was reused from 1877 and 1878. The lower portion of the 9 also has some roughness, which on regular circulation strikes is clear.

In 1851 a law was passed that authorized a three-cent piece and also made the postage rate three cents. Two years later a new law was passed authorizing a light weight silver three-cent coin and three-dollar gold coin. Evidently lawmakers believed that the gold coin would be useful to buy rolls of three-cent coins and sheets of stamps. Its closeness to the quarter eagle, which was widely used, made the denomination somewhat illogical, and the public proved indifferent to them. As long as the postage rate remained three cents for a letter, the three-dollar coin remained. When the rate was changed, the denomination was discontinued. Three-dollar gold piece saw little circulation in the West and South, since they were minted in Dahlonega and New Orleans only in 1854 and in San Francisco from 1855 to 1857 and 1860. The denomination is the relic of an experiment that was interesting but impractical. They were discontinued without a specific reason given, but low mintages after 1879 would indicate little public demand.

James Longacre designed the three-dollar gold coin using an Indian Princess motif. He had to create a motif that would be distinctly different from the quarter and half eagle coronet designs. The design, similar to his Gold Dollar Large Head, shows a head of Liberty facing left wearing a stylized headdress. Inscribed on the headband is LIBERTY. She is surrounded by the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. In using the Indian Princess motif, Longacre felt that he was designing something that was uniquely American rather than an adoption from the classics. The reverse shows an open wreath of corn, cotton, wheat, and tobacco tied at the bottom with a bow. The denomination 3 appears at the top center of the wreath, with DOLLARS and the date below within the wreath. Longacre liked the wreath design so much that he adopted it for use on the small cent of 1856.

When Longacre first came to work at the Mint, he was opposed by Franklin Peale, the Chief Coiner. Peale was probably responsible for some blundered dies that Longacre was criticized for making. Peal was involved in a private, illegal medal manufacturing business using Mint facilities. He was concerned that this new political appointee would interfere with his business, and he resisted Longacres appointment as Chief Engraver. In the end Peale was found out and fired in 1854. Longacre flourished in his position and was responsible for creating many new designs including the Indian Head cent, the Two-cent piece, the Shield nickel, the Liberty Head gold dollar, the Indian Princess gold dollars, the Three dollar gold piece, and, the Liberty Head double eagle.

In a letter to Mint Director Snowden, Longacre responded to criticism of his Indian Head design in that it looked like the European ostrich feathers of the Prince of Wales. He said, Why should we in seeking a type for the illustration or symbol of a nation not [choose a symbol that] be American from the spring-head within our own domain? ... From the copper shores of Lake Superior to the silver mountains of Potosi, from the Ojibwa to the Araucanian, the feathered tiara is a characteristic of the primitiveness on our hemisphere, as the turban is of the Asiatic.

Nor is there anything in its decorative character, repulsive to the association of Liberty, with the intelligent American: to us it is more appropriate than the Phrygian cap; the emblem rather of the emancipated slave, than of the independent freeman, of those who are able to say, we are never in bondage to any man. I regard this emblem of American, as a proper and well defined portion of our national inheritance: as a memorial of Liberty, our liberty, American Liberty: why not use it? We have only to determine that it shall be appropriate and all the world outside of us, cannot wrest it from us.

There are conflicting reports on the actual mintage of the 1879 proof three-dollar gold piece; however, most researchers agree that the number 30 seems to be correct. Obviously all proofs of this date are fundamentally rare and in demand. PCGS indicates that only 18 to 22 are known to exist today. In its population report, NGC shows this coin tied for the finest known with 4 others in PF65 Cameo. At PCGS there is only 1 listed in PF65 Cameo, and it is unknown if these numbers are a result of crossovers or resubmissions.