1881 $3 (1881 Three Dollar Gold) PCGS MS63. This rare 1881 Three Dollar Gold coin has the lowest reported mintage for a business strike in the series. The coin has an above average obverse strike with most of the details seen on the tips of the feathers and the hair below LIBERTY. The reverse is well struck with the details of the wreath and central numbers of the date strong. No wear is seen, as expected for an MS63 graded coin. Bright mint luster is seen within the protected areas of the devices.

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.

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.

Longacre was responsible for creating many designs including the Liberty Head dollar and double eagle, the Indian Princess gold dollar and three dollar pieces, the two cent piece, the shield nickel, many five cent pattern pieces, and the Indian head cent. His dies were used on hundreds of trial pieces and pattern coins.

Obviously with a mintage of only 500, the 1881 three dollar coin is extremely rare in all conditions. Survival rates are low and mint state coins are few. In its population report, PCGS has 9 certified at MS63 with 5 better.