The three-dollar piece was a gold coin produced by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1854 to 1889. Designed by Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longacre, the obverse ("heads" side) bears a representation of Lady Liberty wearing a headdress of a Native American princess, and the reverse displays a wreath of corn, wheat, cotton, and tobacco. Longacre sought to make it as different as possible from the quarter eagle ($2.50 piece), striking it on a thinner planchet and using a distinctive design. Although over 100,000 were struck in the first year, the coin saw little use. It circulated somewhat on the West Coast, where gold and silver were used to the exclusion of paper money, but what little place it had in commerce in the East was lost in the economic disruption of the Civil War, and was never regained. The piece was last struck in 1889, and Congress ended the series the following year. Although many dates were struck in small numbers, the rarest was produced at the San Francisco Mint in 1870 (1870-S); only one such coin is known with certainty to exist.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-dollar_piece

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1087:

William II, son of William the Conqueror, was crowned King of England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_II_of_England

1687:

The Parthenon in Athens was partially destroyed during an armed conflict between the Venetians under Francesco Morosini and Ottoman forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon

1917:

First World War: The Battle of Polygon Wood, part of the Third Battle of Ypres, began near Ypres, Belgium. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Polygon_Wood

1983:

Soviet Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov averted a possible worldwide nuclear war by deliberately certifying what otherwise appeared to be an impending attack by the United States as a false alarm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident

2010:

Scottish aid worker Linda Norgrove and three Afghan colleagues were kidnapped by members of the Taliban in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Linda_Norgrove

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

heave: 1. (transitive) To lift with difficulty; to raise with some effort; to lift (a heavy thing). […] 2. (intransitive) To make an effort to vomit; to retch. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heave

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Do I dare Disturb the universe? In a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.   --T. S. Eliot https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot