United States 1870-S $3 Gold Coin
A great numismatic rarity was interred in the northeast cornerstone of the second
San Francisco Mint on May 25, 1870, during a Masonic ceremony covered by the press. Struck especially for the event using modified dies, the
1870-S $3 gold coin joined a number of other extraordinary numismatic rarities in a copper casket in the new facility’s cornerstone, ostensibly out of collectors’ reach. The facility was completed in 1874 and would go on to serve the western region of the nation’s coinage needs until 1937.
In 1907, almost four decades after the cornerstone was laid, a
second 1870-S $3 gold coin was offered in an ad published in