1888 And 1889 3-Cent Nickel Questions

I think its because its just not that popular of a series, just a guess, personally I like the series.

PCGS survivals are 1500 and 1000 respectively. Not exactly scarce.

I would rather have attractive early commemorative halves with similar mintages and survivals than 3 cent nickels.

Later date proof are fantastic tiny mintage options for under $500. Since there are so few business strikes, the proofs seem to be preferred by many.

They are a LOT easier to collect by series as compared to Three Cent Silver.

Actually the late date proof mintages are rather high (the 1884 85 and 87 proof mintages are higher than the business strike mintages. And in the case of the 1885 around three times as many proofs than Uncs.), the earlier years tend to have much lower mintages at around the same price. In the late dates the proofs are preferred by many because are a heck of a lot cheaper and a heck of a lot easier to find than business strikes.

And it's a nickel that's not even worth 5 cents!

I specialize in the series and love it. With Giffords
'Ultimate Three Cent Nickel Guide' in hand, I'm in cherry picking heaven.

I keep looking at the nickel 3-cent set as a potential "next set" to collect.
BUT
Then I remember the difficulty I had getting one for my type set.
That issue has one problem that's disturbing to me.
They are hard to find well struck.
I understand why but that doesn't make me feel better about them.
A high percentage of them show significant weakness of strike most noticeable on the left "I" of the "III" on the reverse.
Here's the one I finally settled on for my type set.
It's a PCGS MS-65.
I also looked at a MS-66 but the -65 I bought was slightly better struck.

You know, Bump, you're right. That Liberty is very elegant and (I think) quite pretty.

If it were a larger coin, I think it would have more of a following. As it is, the only real way to appreciate her attractiveness is to have a BU example. And I mean REALLY BU.