1860-S Gold Three Dollar
One of 7,000 examples of the date struck, though Walter Breen noted in his Encyclopedia that some 2,592 examples of the issue were found to be underweight, and were later melted at the mint. The Bowers reference notes: "This is the rarest of the early San Francisco Mint $3 varieties. Somewhat more than 100 coins are believed to exist, nearly all of which show significant circulation with little in the way of eye appeal. VF is the standard grade for this issue and is very desirable as such. This is the bugbear $3 variety of its era. AU coins are few and far between, and Mint State examples are for all practical purposes, unavailable." Indeed, that reference notes that perhaps four or five examples of the date can be found in Mint State though since then perhaps a few more have surfaced bringing the total to perhaps six or eight pieces.
The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the Spring 2022 Showcase Auction, where it realized $28,800.