Obsolete United States Coinage is hotter than ever with collector’s right now, but many are forgetting about one of the best pieces of the late 19th century. It’s the smallest coin ever produced by the United States Mint: The Rare Three Cent Silver Piece!

Many of you at home may be asking “Why would they ever make a three cent coin?” and you would not be wrong to question the concept! As odd as it may seem, at one point in United States History a three cent piece was practically essential to everyday life in the United States. The Three Cent coin was proposed in 1851 as a response to both the decrease in postage rate costs from five cents to just three and to answer the public’s demand and need for a small-denomination, easy-to-handle coin. The Three Cent pieces were created by the United States Mint in Philadelphia, PA from 1865 to 1889.

Now you probably are asking “Okay…so for it’s time the coin was important, but why make it out of silver?” …. And the answer to the question is a rather simple one! The coin was initially composed of just 75% silver and 25% copper to ensure that the coin would be considered ‘real currency’ by the public, yet not worth the effort of melting them down for just their silver content. These Silver Three Cent Pieces were also physically the lightest weight coins ever produced by the United States mint, weighing only 4/5 of a gram! This small three cent silver features a shield on a six sided star on its obverse and Roman Numeral III on the reverse…a truly beautiful piece that has a diameter smaller than our modern day dime! Now that is a small coin!

Even though public demand played a large role in the production of the three cent piece, that same demand turned to disgust after a few decades with production ending in 1889. Due to the large number of small denomination coins circulating at the time, the Silver Three Cent piece quickly fell out of favor and soon after their production was ceased. Another factor in the elimination of the three cent piece was the growing popularity of what would become our modern day “Nickel” – which started with a 5 cent piece that was released in 1866.