1859 Three-Cent Silver
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 364,200 made
- Mintage
- 364,200
- 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 1859 Three-Cent Silver worth?
It's scarcer than a typical date, so even circulated examples sell above face and above their metal value. The best uncirculated coins are where the money is.
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 1859 Three-Cent Silver rare?
- Yes. Only 364,200 were made, 14th lowest of the 23 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 1859 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 1859 Three-Cent Silver?
- No mint mark. Struck in Philadelphia.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1859 are scarcer?
- The 1864 at 12,000, the 1863 at 21,000, the 1855 at 139,000, plus 2 more. So the 1859 is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1859 Three-Cent Silver coins were made?
- 364,200.
What to check on your 1859
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Check the date and mint mark under magnification for tooling or added letters. Scarce dates are the ones forgers alter.
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Proof or circulation strike? A proof has mirror-like fields and frosted design details and was sold to collectors, not released in change. The 1859 Three-Cent Silver Proof (800 made) is the one to compare with.
- 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. Low-mintage dates attract altered and counterfeit coins. Check that the date have not been tooled or added, or buy one already certified by PCGS or NGC.
The story of the 1859
Production at Philadelphia fell off a cliff in 1859. Only 364,200 were made, against 1.6 million the year before. That drop is why the 1859 is the one people look for. In 1860 the figure was 286,000.
No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1859 you find is from Philadelphia. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1862 (343,000) and the 1860 (286,000).
Across Philadelphia's 22 Three-Cent Silver issues, the hardest to find is the 1872 with 1,000 made. The 1859 is one of the easier ones. Among the 1850s issues, only the 1855 had a smaller run.
Type 3 brings better strikes (1859 to 1862)
In 1859 the star outline was reduced to two lines and the coins struck up much more sharply. The lower relief let the dies fill properly, so stars, shield lines and the III show clearly on most coins. Mintages ran between 286,000 and 497,000 a year from 1859 to 1862, high enough that these dates are easy to find.
The 1862/1 overdate is a popular variety of this period. Proofs reached 1,000 in 1860 and 1861. Coins of these years are the best choice for a well-struck example of the denomination because they combine good mintages with the improved design. Uncirculated pieces often show attractive toning. The 1862 was the last year with a mintage in the hundreds of thousands.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1859
The Indian Head cent replaced the Flying Eagle cent in 1859. Its first-year reverse showed a laurel wreath, replaced by an oak wreath and shield the next year.
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 | 1859 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 364,200 |
| 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 |
Other 1859 Three-Cent Silver issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1859 Three-Cent Silver | 364,200 | Circulation strike | 0.0217 oz |
| 1859 Three-Cent Silver Proof | 800 | Proof | 0.0217 oz |
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.