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In 1865, the Copper-Nickel Three Cent piece was introduced to replace the old silver three cent pieces.
The composition is 75% copper and 25% nickel. The silver
three cents pieces were too small and wore out too quickly to be of much commercial use. James Longacre,
famous for his design of the Indian Head Cent was responsible for the design of this coin as well.
In total, about 30 million
of these copper-nickel versions were minted starting at the end of the Civil War, when need for change was high
and coins were still being hoarded.
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- Minted from 1865 to 1889
- Only minted at Philadelphia
- Originally known as
trimes
- Designed by James Longacre
- 1877, 1878, 1886, and 1887/6 available only as Proofs
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