In 1870, a set of dies for the three-dollar piece was sent from the Bureau of the Mint's Engraving Department at the Philadelphia Mint to San Francisco.
On January 18, 1873, Philadelphia Mint Chief Coiner Archibald Loudon Snowden complained that the "3" in the date, as struck by the Mint, too closely resembled an "8", especially on the smaller-sized denominations.