1872

By 1872, production had recovered slightly to 862,000 coins, closer to 1870 levels after the lower 1871 figure. The year's biggest political story was the Credit Mobilier scandal, which broke in September when the New York Sun published documents showing that Union Pacific insiders had distributed railroad stock to members of Congress to head off investigation of the transcontinental construction fraud. President Grant was re-elected in November against newspaper editor Horace Greeley, who died before the electoral votes were counted. Three-cent nickels were traded in every city and town where those events were being debated. The 1872 is available in circulated grades and marks a point where the denomination's commercial role was stable but clearly diminishing compared to its first-year flood.