1887 $3 Three Dollars Gold PCGS PF62 CAMEO CAC. Great balance, with nice Cameo. 1887 $3 is one of the prettiest proof gold three dollar coins you will be lucky to find, with nice orange-gold highlights, the present coin shows excellent Cameo contrast. The strike is full and crisp, with none of the design elements showing any weakness. Even for the lower numerical grades the fields are relatively mark-free, and no blemishes are worth to be individually mentioned. Overall, the eye appeal of this price is excellent, as is the price. A higher graded example with the Cameo designation will cost multiples more, and this piece is an affordable and good looking piece to be included in a specialized set or advanced Proof gold type set. This coin has been stickered by CAC.

Usually considered to be one of the more available Proof Three dollar gold pieces, the 1887 Proof remains to be a rare coin with a mintage of just 160 pieces. According to Walter Breen, in his Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Proof Coins (published in the late 1970s), the mintage and delivery of these pieces was spread trough out the year and only a limited number was sold in complete Proof sets. Approximately a dozen pieces were melted soon after their mintage, so the correct mintage might have been slightly lower (but these pieces were never delivered and thus are not included in the mintages and the number of known pieces, which remains small).

Although Breen listed “over 30 survivors” in his work, that estimate appears to have been relatively low, especially when compared to modern facts. The major grading companies have certified a number close to the reported mintage of 160 coins. However, as is often the case with scarcer coins, this number no doubt includes a certain number of resubmissions, and the correct number of pieces still known to exist appears to be 100 to 120 pieces in all Proof grades (including impaired specimens).

Somewhat darker toned, with nice orange-gold highlights, the present coin still shows excellent Cameo contrast. The strike is full and crisp, with none of the design elements showing any weakness. Even for the lower numerical grades the fields are relatively mark-free, and no blemishes are worth to be individually mentioned. Overall, the eye appeal of this price is excellent, as is the price. A higher graded example with the Cameo designation will cost multiples more, and this piece is an affordable and good looking piece to be included in a specialized set or advanced Proof gold type set. This coin has been stickered by CAC.