The 1872 three-dollar is yet another issue struck in very limited numbers in both business strikes (2,000 pieces) and proofs (30 pieces). At some point in the early 1870s, there seems to have been a recognition of the difficulty in acquiring uncirculated examples from the previous dozen or so dates in the series, as a greater number of 1872s were saved at or around the time of issue than before. This trend of hoarding this unusual series, of course, only increased and continued until the denomination was abolished in 1889.