Coin Collecting Club

Shortly after the United States Civil War there were two different three cent pieces in circulation. You had silver three cent pieces and nickel three cent pieces. And during this post Civil War period, these three cent pieces were actually from silver and nickel. This article focuses on the three cent nickel.

Today in the United States we do not have many different kinds of coins in circulation. We have pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollar coins. But, previously in American history there were many more different denomination of coins in circulation. One of these coins were nickel three-cent pieces.

In 1865, however, the US Mint started to produce nickel versions of the three cent piece. These nickel three-cent pieces were 75% cooper and 25% nickel. During the 1880s very few of these nickel three-cent pieces were produced. And in 1889, the three-cent piece was discontinued.

Doesn’t it seem wierd that the US Mint produced three cent pieces? Why did the United States Mint mint these us coins? The US Mint started producing the three cent piece in 1851. At first only the silver three-cent piece was produced. The silver three cent pieces were very thin coins which were produced solely to help make it easier to purchase postage stamps. The US postage stamp in 1851 was, you guessed it, 3 cents. Before 1851, these postage stamps were five cents, but the US government reduced the price to three cents.
Today the three-cent pieces are highly valued by US coin collectors and coin collectors around the globe. The three cent pieces in mint condition or in proof condition are worth the most money. During most of the production years of the three-cent piece, the Mint only minted 1,000 or less of these coins per year. Since there were so few of these coins minted, they are very rare making them highly sought after coin collectibles. There nickel three-cent pieces graded at proof-66 are at around $850.

Why are three cent nickels popular buys for coin collectors? Since only 1,000 or less of these coins were minted from 1851 through 1889, the three cent coins are very rare. Scarcity is what drives coin values. If you are trying to determine what a coin is worth, scarcity or rarity is the prime factor. In addition, the history of the three cent coin makes these coins popular too.

With the proof-66 three cent nickel going for roughly $850 due to the rarity of these nickel three cent pieces these are great buys for any us coins collector.

Coin Price Guides are useful among collectors. In brief, coins are tiny disk shaped metal pieces of currency. Coins come in various categories currency coins which are valued as per their face value, currency coins come with an amount printed on them and the printed amount is the price of the coin.

Rare and Historical coins are those which belong to centuries before us ,these coins are rare and very significant in finding out historical information of our ancestors ,these coins fetch a very high price in the market, the pricing of the coin is also based on the significance quality condition uniqueness and beauty of the coin.

Gold coins or Silver Coins, these coins are mostly bought as an investment the price of these coins usually depends on the market price. There can be no price guide as with the fluctuations of the economy the price of Gold and silver coins will also fluctuate.

Coin Pricing guide is based on certain criteria’s-

*Coin must be made of valuable metal, the pricing of this coin will be close to the market price of the metal.

* Coin should be of standardized weight and purity.

*The marking of the marking on the coin has to be genuine and marked only by an authorized authority only.

* Pricing of the coin also depends on the date printed on the coin, as well as its historical significance.

Coin collectors from time to time come across such coins too which are very difficult in analyzing their price ,so clarify sometimes a coin may own a very unique coin whose price cannot be determined due to its unclear marking or worsened condition in such occasion the pricing of the coins is based on the demand the coin or how many coin collectors would be interested in your piece.

Sometimes a very unique coin would not be as well priced as a coin which is relatively plenty in nature and the simple reason would be as the coin is in more demand by the coin collectors. For example there are only 30000 dimes of the 17th century where as 20th century dimes are nearly 4,00,000 still the 20th century dimes are sold for higher value than the 17th century dimes the only reason being the 20th century dimes are more popular among coin collectors.

Generally coin price keeps varying, the general rule in the coin price guide is rarer the coin higher the coin value ,still there are some exception in this case too for example a 1913 marked Liberty head Nickel was sold for as high as $1,000,000 as there are only 5 pieces of such coins ,where as 1000yrs old Chinese coins were sold for not more than $100-$200 as there were number of these coins available.

Coin grade also influences the coin price guide, coin grade depends on the condition, better the condition higher will be the grade and higher will be the price the coin will fetch.

However one should remember monetary valuation of a coin is not everything, even if one coin does not have a high market value it does not loose its significance it can still be very much a part of your collection.

Coin Price Guides come in print (softcover and hardcover) and online in digital format.