Date Varieties of 1852 Three Cent Pieces
By Bruce Greenblatt
1852 was a banner year for the three cent silver piece. This was their second year of mintage, and they were minted in enormous quantities. Even though they were only minted at the Philadelphia mint, the mintage of 18, 663, 500 was the largest number of a single denomination so far by any of the US mints. Not only that, as is shown in the following table, in 1852 more three cent pieces were minted than all other denominations combined from all four mints then in operation:
|
Variety |
Mintage |
|
Large Cents |
5,063,094 |
|
Half Dimes |
1,260,500 |
|
Dimes |
1,965,500 |
|
Quarters |
273,060 |
|
Halves |
221,130 |
|
Silver Dollars |
1,100 |
|
Gold Dollars |
2,386,500 |
|
Quarter Eagles |
1,313,531 |
|
Half Eagles |
738,059 |
|
Eagles |
281,106 |
|
Double Eagles |
2,242,026 |
|
|
|
|
Totals |
15,745,606 |
|
Three cent mintage |
18,663,500 |
Table 1 – Mintages of other denominations in 1852[1]
Walter Breen indicates that there were 109 obverse dies used to mint the three cent pieces in 1852.[2] Given this large number of dies, it is not surprising that there were several different date punches used to place the date on the working dies. Breen identifies the two main varieties as:
· 2908 Heavy Date
· 2909 Thin Shallow Date
It is also easy to remember these varieties as Small Date (2908) and Large Date (2909) due to the height of the digits used on the die. The Large Date variety uses digits that are more common on later issues of the three cent piece, while the Small Date variety uses digits that are only common on the Type I variety of this series. The digits in the Large Date variety are similar in size to those found on the Seated Liberty Half Dimes of this year. So, it is likely that originally date punches specifically designed for the three cent piece were manufactured, but later on the same date punches were used for both the three cent piece and the half dime. The Large Date variety is shown in Figure 1, while the Small Date variety is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1 - Small Date Variety
Figure 2 - Large Date Variety
Additionally, Breen lists several varieties of the 1852 three cent piece with various RePunched Dates (RPD). With so many obverse dies, it is likely that there are many date varieties yet to be discovered. One such RPD variety is shown in Figure 3. Notice that the date in the back is slightly higher and to the right of the 2nd punching.
Figure 3 - Repunched Date Variety