One got the sense when going through the Millholland Collection, offered at auction by Stack’s Bowers Galleries in March, that it was the product of a collector who enjoyed his coins.

He seems to have actively collected from the 1860s until 1894, and one can imagine the collector’s surprise when he encountered an 1865 Coronet copper-nickel 3-cent coin struck 15% off center in his change.

Now graded Very Fine 20 by Professional Coin Grading Service, it must have circulated for some time before being snatched up. It is struck off center toward 12:30 relative to the obverse, and the catalog states, “the upper obverse border minimally encroaches into the word OF, and on the reverse only the ribbon ends are mostly off the flan due to the error,” but the date is clear and it sold for a reasonable $660.

These 19th century error coins are unusual, and that it is on a short-lived and odd denomination makes it extra desirable.

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