1857 $3 Three Dollars Gold, NGC MS64 – This near gem three dollar gold can be considered to be extremely scarce in this condition. Its mintage, 20,891 business strikes, is not low in the context of the series. In fact, this date is considered is considered to be one of the most common of the whole series. Yet, the pieces that still survive after more than 150 years are often only found in lower uncirculated grades and not in the near-gem quality as we offer here.

In their Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold coins, Garret and Ruth share their point of view on the overall availability of this series in Mint State during their overview of the sereis:

“These coins are common as type and in Mint State, but demand is very high for the denomination…Mint State examples are easily located up through MS-65, become scarce in MS-66, and extremely rare in MS-67.”

Yet, this is not true for every coin in the series. For example, many Branch Mint issues are extremely rare in uncirculated condition, and sometimes even unknown. Mintages were often lower than 5,000 pieces, and although survival rates are fairly high, most issues are still scarce. The Philadelphia issues, even with higher mintages such as the 1857, remain to be very scarce near the gem level, as they apparently were handled pretty rough during the first few years after their minting and afterwards.

The present offering represents a near gem example of this issue with blazing issue. The fields are relatively mark-free for the grade, and the sharp is nearly full, highlighting all the details. Just a few handling marks keep this coin out of a rare gem holder, which is the case with many of these coins, often in severe form. The coin has a fresh look and sure is to please every conscious collector seeking a scarce three dollar gold coin in higher grade.