1887 $3, DCAM PR(PCGS#98051)

1887 $3, DCAM PR (PCGS#98051)

Summer 2025 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Losbeschreibung: Lovely deep golden surfaces offer stark cameo contrast between frosty, smartly impressed devices and highly reflective fields. Preserved with exceptional care since leaving the Mint more than a century ago, the surfaces are nicely composed and fully deserving of the Gem rating assigned by PCGS.<p>The Proof mintage for the 1887 three-dollar gold issue is reported at 160 pieces, of which perhaps 100 or so survive. (John W. Dannreuther, 2018, estimates 90 to 110 extant.) This is actually one of the very few error Proof gold issues attributed to the United States Mint. Several examples are known in medallic alignment, while there are others, even more intriguingly, that were first struck in medallic alignment, the error was noticed, and the coins were then overstruck by the same dies in coin alignment! The Floyd T. Starr specimen is an example of the latter, and traces of the first strike in medallic alignment persist here and there in the obverse field and, even more dramatically, on the reverse below the digit 3 in the denomination and between the date and the ribbon bow. Among the finest certified survivors of the issue, as well, this would be a highlight in even the most advanced numismatic cabinet.