Gary's Type Set
3C SILVER, ALL TYPES (1851-1873)

Owner Comments:

The Silver Three Cent Piece, nicknamed “Trime” by Mint Director James R. Snowden and “fish scales” by the public, is the smallest coin in both weight and thickness minted by the United States. The Silver Three Cent Piece features a federal shield in the center of a six-point star on the coin's obverse and thirteen stars around an ornamental “C” with the Roman numeral for three in the middle on the reverse. A bundle of three arrows and an olive sprig was added to the type 2 (1854-1858) and type 3 Trimes (1859-1873).

Mintage of this coin began 1851 in response to a reduction in the cost of first class postage from five cents to three cents. This coin also filled a need for small change due to the rising value of silver relative to gold. For instance, in 1851, the intrinsic value of silver coins was worth more than their face value meaning a person could melt down two half dollars to buy $1.06 in gold. This caused a severe shortage of silver coins, thus making the large cent and the half-cent the only small change coins.

The 1851-1853 Silver Three Cent Pieces, however, had a metallic composition of 75% Silver and 25% Copper, giving them a value of 86 cents on the dollar. This discouraged melting and immediately filled the public need for small change. Initially well received by the public, it was not long before people complained about losing the Silver Three Cent Piece because if its small size. When the weights of most of the other circulating silver coins were reduced, the fineness of the Silver Three Cent Piece was raised to 90% silver in 1854.