1861 3 Cent Silver - NGC XF45 Philidelphia

Mintage: 498,000  Minted in Philidelphia Designed by James B Longacre This 1861 3 cent piece is 90% silver, minted in Philidelphia and was designed by James B Longacre. Silver three-cent pieces (Type 1) were first introduced in 1851 to facilitate the purchase of three-cent stamps.  Today, only numismatists remember these tiny coins and the important part they played in the nation's coinage system in the late 1850s and the early days of the Civil War.