I wanted it graded as a circulation strike, so I cracked it out (so as not
to lead the witness) and submitted it as a circulation strike once again. I
just learned that it has indeed been slabbed as a circulation strike -
GENUINE with altered surfaces. Sheesh. But at least this time I got the
main thing I wanted, so life's not all bad.
James the Slobbering Slabber
On your third try it will come back bodybagged.
To be honest, I didn't think they made proof coins back then..duh
They did indeed make them. They just weren't packaged together in sets like
they have been for several decades in our time. Nor were they as distinctly
different from business strike coinage back then.
The last 11 dates of the three cent silver series were of much smaller
mintages than the earlier ones. The mint made some of them in proof to sell
at a profit, but the rest they kept in a vault, only to melt most of them in
1873. Proofs are easy to come by, circulation strikes much less so for
those years. The 1873s were made in proof only. Check the Redbook for more
information.
James
Beginning in 1862 silver proof coins were sold only in sets. From 1936
to 1942 individual proof coins could be purchased as well as sets but
since 1950 it has been sets only. The uncirculated three cent pieces
in the 1860s were used to pay off odd amounts from the gold deposits.
The above is correct in that excess pieces were melted in 1873.
CE