$3 gold indian princesses coin with defect

[martombridg0]

Hello- I acquired a very rare 1878 $3 gold coin with a small "w" enscribed behind the head of the front of the gold coin. It was common in those days to scribed your girlfriends initial on the coin and give it to her as a present from what Ive readed so far.

Whats the impact to the value of the coin with the defect?

Mtulsa2

[rustydalmatian]

Unfortunately, quite alot.  Any collector would view this as major damage.  It's a shame because otherwise, it looks like a nice AU coin.  If you want an idea of the value, go to the PCGS homepage and look up the value in AU 50, then deduct 60-70%. 

[oz_in_ohio]

If you have not got the coin in your collection  in any state already , then it is a space filler

or otherwise  it is just meltdown bullion. The numismatic catalogue value has

dissappeared , gone, finito, vannished and so on and so on. Put this in another perspective....

if you were looking for a car, would you purchase one with no engine?? It does not how much

a coin is damaged , broken, etc etc etc...Once it it damaged, that is the end of its true

numismatic value. It cannot be a little bit damaged as it would be like saying a woman is a

little bit pregnant after conceiving... Either they are or they are not.... There is no shades of gray.

I would say melt the gold and make some jewellry out of it or simmply place it with other gold

to make a block of bullion.. I know this is not what you want ed to hear but you did ask everyone out there what the value was. lastly anyone that would erch something like this into such a high graded coin is a fool. Have a nice day...OIO

[too_toot]

It's worth a tad more than bullion, but how much more is dependent upon a number of factors. It certainly is better than a cull coin, hence, I'd check the sold dates as a comparison. The most commonly seen $ 3 gold coins are the 1854 - 7 plus your date, 1878. The market value of yours is probably around the lowest price received for a worn or otherwise damaged, jewelry coin.