1868

Mintage slipped to 3,500 coins in 1868, one of the lowest figures in the entire series. Each year from 1865 onward seemed to find a new low for the denomination. The Mint was producing trimes almost as a formality, maintaining the series on paper while the three-cent nickel handled any real commercial demand for the denomination. In Washington that spring, the House impeached President Andrew Johnson over his violation of the Tenure of Office Act; the Senate acquitted him by a single vote in May.

At fewer than four thousand coins produced, the 1868 is a major rarity. Survival rates are thin. Most known examples trace back to private collections assembled during or shortly after the coin's production, when informed collectors recognized the extraordinary low mintage and set examples aside. Commercial circulation of the 1868 trime was essentially nonexistent.