1885 $3, PL MS(PCGS#88007)

1885 $3, PL MS (PCGS#88007)

Spring 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

详细说明: Lovely orange-honey surfaces are sharply struck with reflective fields supporting satiny design elements. The depth of reflectivity in the fields is noteworthy in a circulation strike $3 of this issue, and it has secured this lovely example a rare PL designation from NGC. Sharply struck with superior quality and eye appeal at the assigned numeric grade level.<p>Few three-dollar gold coins of 1854 to 1889 are as instantly recognized as rarities and eagerly sought by today's advanced collectors as is the 1885. The very low mintage of 801 circulation strikes was delivered in late March of the year; three months later an example sold at auction for face value. By the early 1920s, this date was considered a great rarity in numismatic circles. Estimates suggest 75 to 100 Mint State coins can be accounted for today, along with perhaps 90 to 120 circulated pieces, a fairly even split of the remaining coins. The circulated coin population is replete with AU pieces, many of which may have been retrieved from banks and the like by Thomas L. Elder and passed on to numismatists in his era. Most of the Mint State survivors are found in the MS-60 to MS-62 range, or marginally finer. As alluded to above, very few of these have been awarded a PL designation from the major third party certification services. Here, then, is a significant absolute and strike rarity for the connoisseur.