VSI COLLECTION - America’s Coins through the Years/History in your hands.

Owner Comments:

This coin was minted in Philadelphia one year after the end of the US Civil War.A rather odd denomination for a coin but there was a severe shortage of small change during and immediately after the war and this was one way the U.S. Mint was trying to address this problem.This relatively new denomination was supposed to help alleviate the shortage of small change and eliminate all the privately issued encased postage stamps and civil war tokens which were being used as small change due to the hoarding of government coinage during and immediately after the end of the war.This 1866 NGC graded three cent nickel in MS-64 condition still possesses a great deal of mint luster for a coin that’s over 150 years old! It has some die clash marks but still has nice eye appeal.At the time of this coin’s striking Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States.He ascended to the Presidency as the result of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination a year earlier in 1865.Also,another historical note of interest that year was the readmission to the Union of Tennessee on July 24,1866 and the beginning of “reconstruction” in the Southern States.