1867

Mint records show 3.9 million three-cent nickels for 1867, putting the denomination into a routine production pattern in the mid-single-digit millions. That was far above anything the silver trime had managed in its late years. The coin did the small-change work that millions of Americans needed daily: newspapers, streetcar fares, tobacco, stamps.

1867 was also the year Secretary of State William Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. Newspapers ridiculed the deal as "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox." Three-cent nickels moved across counters while editorial pages argued whether the territory would ever be worth what the country had paid for it. The 1867 is common in circulated grades. Uncirculated examples turn up less frequently, and fully struck gems command modest premiums over ordinary pieces.