1880 Three-Dollar Gold Piece. MS-64 DPL (NGC).

1880 Three-Dollar Gold Piece. MS-64 DPL (NGC).，A simply beautiful example of this low mintage, key date entry in the later three-dollar gold series. Warmly patinated in rose-gold, both sides offer outstanding contrast between frosty devices and deeply mirrored fields. Virtually full in strike with solid Choice Mint State quality, this delightful coin would serve as a highlight in any gold cabinet.<p>Circulation strike three-dollar gold production amounted to just 1,000 coins in 1880, one of the lowest mintages for the type. Perhaps not surprisingly given how few examples were struck, survivors are highly elusive in numismatic circles. Circulated examples are particularly rare, the only slightly more obtainable Mint State coins undoubtedly snatched up by contemporary dealers who noticed the limited mintage. Indeed, Thomas L. Elder is said to have sold "several hundred" examples of the low mintage 1879 and 1880 issues to Chicago dealer Ben G. Green during the earliest years of the 20th century. The Elder-Green holding seems to account for the majority of 1880 threes extant, Q. David Bowers and Douglas Winter (2005) accounting for fewer than 200 Mint State survivors. As the only example certified in the Deep Mirror Prooflike category at NGC, this is a particularly desirable example for the advanced collector.，From the Marc Kravit Collection.，