1862

The 1862 three-dollar gold piece was struck during the bleakest fiscal year of the Civil War, and its mintage of just 5,785 reflects how thoroughly specie had retreated from public hands. By the close of December, banks across the North had suspended specie payments, gold and silver coins were hoarded out of circulation, and the federal government was paying its bills with newly authorized legal tender notes that collectors now know as greenbacks. Gold itself traded at a sharp premium against this paper, and the small batches leaving Philadelphia served treasury purposes and overseas obligations rather than retail commerce. James B. Longacre's Indian Princess obverse and the Type 2 reverse with its small wreath continued unchanged, so the design tells none of the story that the date itself carries. Survivorship runs roughly fifty to seventy-five examples, with most grading Fine through Extremely Fine and choice mint state pieces decidedly elusive.

Authentication starts at the scale. A genuine 1862 weighs 5.015 grams, measures 20.5 millimeters, and carries a cleanly reeded edge with no seam line, file work, or applied wash. Composition is 0.900 fine gold with copper alloy, and a piece outside the 4.95 to 5.08 gram window or showing any magnetic response should be set aside. Confirm the Type 2 reverse: the wreath opens at top, the word DOLLARS is small, and letter spacing is consistent around the curve. Period transfer-die counterfeits tend to show pebbly fields, soft feather tips on the headdress, and date digits that drift too high or too low against the denticles. This Philadelphia issue carries no mintmark, so any piece with a punched D, S, or O below the wreath is a tooled deception.

For the collector chasing Civil War gold, the 1862 occupies a respected middle tier. It is far scarcer than the opening dates of the series and more available than the proof-only rarities of the 1870s, which keeps it within reach for patient buyers in circulated grades. Original honey-gold surfaces are worth holding out for, as cleaned and lightly polished pieces remain common. Certified examples from the major services trade with regularity, and CAC-approved coins set the pace at auction. Few small gold issues capture the financial dislocation of the war years as directly. See the full Three-Dollar Gold series history.