1856 Three-Cent Silver
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 1,458,000 made
- Mintage
- 1,458,000
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 0.75 g
- Diameter
- 14 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1856 Three-Cent Silver worth?
Collectors pay a real premium for this date, worn or not, because far fewer were made than usual. Uncirculated pieces go much higher.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1856 Three-Cent Silver rare?
- Somewhat. 1,458,000 were made, fewer than most dates, so collectors treat it as a semi-key.
- Is the 1856 Three-Cent Silver silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.0217 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on an 1856 Three-Cent Silver?
- No mint mark. Struck in Philadelphia.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1856 are scarcer?
- The 1855 at 139,000, the 1860 at 286,000, the 1859 at 364,200, plus 3 more. So the 1856 is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1856 Three-Cent Silver coins were made?
- 1,458,000.
What to check on your 1856
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Old coins pick up damage over a long life. Look for holes, bends, scratches or signs of cleaning before you judge the grade, because a damaged coin sells for a fraction of a problem-free one.
- Judge the grade under good light. The star's outlines and the shield at its center show wear first. These thin coins are often bent or damaged.
Never clean it. Collectors pay strong premiums for original surfaces and natural toning on a date like this. A cleaned coin can lose half its value or more.
The story of the 1856
Philadelphia ramped up hard in 1856: 1,458,000 coins, about 10 times the 1855 run. The next year it made 1 million (1857).
No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1856 you find is from Philadelphia. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1858 (1,603,700) and the 1857 (1,042,000).
Philadelphia struck the Three-Cent Silver in 22 issues between 1851 and 1872. By mintage this one lands in the more common half, while the key for that mint is the 1872 (1,000). Within the 1850s it's 6th smallest of 10, between the 1857 (1 million) and the 1858 (1.6 million).
Type 2 with a triple outline (1854 to 1858)
In 1854 the coin was raised to 90 percent silver and lightened to 0.75 grams, bringing it into line with other silver coins. Longacre added three outlines around the star and placed an olive sprig above and a bundle of arrows below the III on the reverse.
Type 2 coins are notoriously hard to strike well. Many show weak or missing details on the star and shield. Output dropped to 671,000 in 1854 and only 139,000 in 1855, the scarcest Type 2 date. Mintages recovered to over a million a year from 1856 to 1858. Proofs were made regularly from 1858, though they are rare for that year. A sharply struck Type 2 coin is the hardest of the three types to find.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1856
The Mint made pattern Flying Eagle cents dated 1856 to test a smaller copper-nickel cent. They were given to members of Congress and collectors, which helped launch coin collecting in the United States.
How to recognize it
The smallest US silver coin shows a six-pointed star with a shield in its center and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around it. The reverse has a Roman numeral III inside an ornate letter C, surrounded by 13 stars. Type 1 (1851 to 1853) has no outline around the star, Type 2 (1854 to 1858) has three lines and Type 3 (1859 to 1873) has two.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Three-Cent Silver (1851–1873) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1856 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 1,458,000 |
| Face value | 3¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 0.75 grams |
| Diameter | 14 mm |
| Edge | Plain |
| Silver content | 0.0217 troy oz (0.675 g) |
| Designer | James B. Longacre |
Mintage: Three-cent silver (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.