1873 1c Closed 3 MS RD

Closed or Close: The “closed” 3 on 1873 coinage is not really closed, but nearly so. Harry X Boosel popularized Closed 3 when he shared his affection for the date in a series of articles called “1873–1873,” published in book form in 1960. For many years, the Red Book and Whitman’s Bowers Series (now the Red Book Series) erred on the side of accuracy with the term Close 3. As of the 79th edition of the Red Book, however, Whitman has returned to Closed 3, in keeping with modern collector usage.

1873, Closed 3, Cent Production: On January 18, Chief Coiner A.L. Snowden submitted a formal complaint that the 3 in the dates on all the coinage dies was too close and could easily be confused for an 8. New date punches with a more open 3 were made and put into use on all the remaining dies to be made. There is no way to accurately record how many coins were struck from the dies made prior to the change. After the Open 3 dies were prepared, it is probable that both date styles were struck simultaneously. The mintage given here is estimated from the surviving percentage of Closed 3 coins compared to Open 3 examples.

Survivability: About 25% of all 1873 Indian Head cents have the Closed 3 date style. These seem to be about as readily available as the 1872 issue, which has a higher mintage. The pace of the redemption of cents slowed a bit in 1873 and 1874, so more of this issue survived. These pieces stayed in circulation for a long time.

Collecting Challenges: The 1873 Closed 3 cent is very diffcult to find unattributed, as its desirability has been known for many years. Expect to pay a premium about double the price of the Open 3. Look for attractive problem-free pieces. Many collectors add both the Closed 3 and Open 3 digit styles to their collections; however, if only one example is desired, collectors usually choose the less expensive Open 3. This keeps demand a bit lower than it would otherwise be.

Collecting Circulated Pieces: The optimal collecting grade for circulated coins is VF-20. Most are well struck. Avoid problem pieces with corroded surfaces or with aggressive cleaning. Most coin albums label a hole for this coin, so demand is moderately strong.

Collecting Mint State Pieces: The optimal collecting grade for Mint State coins is MS-63RB. These are very scarce, but the premium over the Open 3 style is lower due to weaker demand from date collectors. Most are found with streaky red-brown colors. Full red examples are very scarce. Beware of cleaned examples offered as gem full red.

Collecting Proof Issues: Proofs were struck in Closed 3 style only. These are moderately scarce, though much more common than the Mint State format. The dies seem to have been heavily polished prior to use. None are known from what numismatists call an early die state. Mirrors are usually medium. Cameo examples are rare.

The main variety for this year is the Doubled LIBERTY, Snow-1 (see next entry). This variety is very popular. There is a second, less dramatic doubled LIBERTY, S-2. It has doubling on just the BERTY of LIBERTY. All known examples are struck with the Bold N reverse. A Shallow N reverse may exist on the S-2 as well as others, but none have been authenticated yet.