Small-denomination paper money was introduced to replace the hoarded coins, with the 3-cent denomination being the smallest of this “fractional currency.” It was not popular.
With the end of the Civil War in 1865, the U.S. began to withdraw the 3-cent paper notes by redeeming them with a new and somewhat larger 3-cent coin struck in copper-nickel. (The new coin was almost coined in bronze, but—luckily—it was recognized in time that because of their similar size and color, the recently retired large cents would very likely find dishonest use as bronze “3-cent pieces!”) Smart...and fortunate, too, for the miners of nickel who were so well-connected in Washington at the time.
So we have, below, the new 3-cent piece of 1865 in “white metal.”
This first-year example marks the first appearance—I think—of Roman numerals on a U.S. coin. Certainly it’s one of America’s least “talkative” coin designs. No “E Pluribus Unum;” no “In God We Trust.” Not even “Cent(s).” (Which would have repercussions later on—the Mint’s successful experience with this “no cents” coin lulled its officials into complacence, and is at least partly responsible for the debacle of the “no cents” Liberty Head 5-cent piece in 1883.)
Mintages of the copper-nickel 3-cent declined as less and less 3-cent fractional currency was presented for redemption. After 1876, perfunctory mintages were the rule (except the outlier of 1881, when more than a million were struck).
The copper-nickel 5-cent had proved very popular, and silver coins suddenly returned to circulation about 1875 or so, which left even less room for the 3-cent piece in American commercial channels. And then in October 1882, what had been the primary justification for the original (silver) 3-cent piece disappeared—the price of a domestic postage stamp was reduced from three cents to only two cents. Production of the 3-cent nickel ended in 1889.
During WWI there was a temporary (20-month) return to a 3-cent postal rate, and in July 1932 the return to a 3-cent postage stamp was permanent. But no new American 3-cent piece appeared, and never has.
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