1862 Silver Three Cent Piece - 2/1

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This is the 1862/1 overdate variety of the 1862 Silver Three Cent Piece. Dies were expensive, and a serviceable die left over at the end of a year was often kept and re-dated rather than destroyed: the new digits were punched directly over the old ones. The earlier date survives underneath wherever its strokes fall outside the digits punched over it, which is why an overdate is read from the shapes that do not belong to the date as printed. The effect is in the die, so every coin struck from it carries the same remnant in the same position. Any mintage given below counts the entire issue for this date and mint, not this variety: a variety comes from one die or a few, and how many coins they struck was never separately recorded. The 1862 Silver Three Cent Piece - 2/1 is a silver three-cent piece minted at the Philadelphia Mint, within the Silver Three Cent Pieces 1851-1873 series. The 1862 Silver Three Cent Piece issue as a whole had a mintage of 343,000; how many coins carry this variety is unknown. The obverse features a six-pointed star enclosing a Union shield and the reverse displays a Roman numeral III (three) within a large letter C. The last year with a significant business-strike mintage before Civil War hoarding decimated silver coin circulation. Struck in 90% silver, 10% copper, weighing 0.75 grams, 14 mm in diameter, with a plain edge. Cataloged as PCGS #3681.

Cross References

FS-301