1866 Three Cent Nickel

About the Three Cent Nickel

The Three Cent Nickel is a unique US coin, also known as the “Trime” or “Fishscale” due to its scalloped edges. The coin was minted from 1865 to 1889 and was composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel. As the name implies, it was worth three cents and featured a nickel-colored five-pointed star on the obverse side.

The coin was designed by James B. Longacre and was known to have large mintages. Most Three Cent Nickels are affordable for collectors, as the typical circulated pieces can be found for under $40. However, the rarest pieces, such as the 1866 without “Ray” and 1883 with the “C” below the date can be quite expensive, often worth thousands of dollars.

In total, there were 24 different designs and mintages of Three Cent Nickels. The coins were produced at Philadelphia, Carson City and San Francisco, with most of the piece’s mintage coming from the East Coast. While the coin had a short run, it is still recognized as an important part of US numismatic history.

The 1866 Three Cent Nickel coin, has a total mintage of 4,801,000, struck at the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania mint, and engraved by James Barton Longacre. Made of copper-nickel (.750 copper, .250 nickel), weighing 1.94 grams, with a diameter of 17.9 mm, and a thickness of 1.15 mm, and featuring a plain edge.

The obverse is female portrait left, date below. It reads “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1885”. The reverse is roman numerals within wreath. It reads “III”.