The three-cent silver featured a shield on a six-sided star on the obverse and the Roman numeral III on the reverse.

[2] The term "trimes" is often used today for these coins, and was first used by the director of the United States Mint (James Ross Snowden) at the time of their production.

The coin went through a design change at the time such that two lines were now used to border the star on the obverse and an olive sprig was added above and a bundle of arrows below the Roman numeral III on the reverse.

[4] A final design change occurred in 1859 because of striking problems: the number of lines bordering the star was reduced to one, and the font was made taller and slightly narrower.

The three-cent nickel was never intended as a permanent issue, only as a stopgap measure until the wartime hoarding ceased.

[7] The three-cent nickel was only minted in Philadelphia, and except for a larger date on the 1889 pieces, had no design differences throughout its run.

There was some discussion of minting a glass 3-cent coin to relieve the demand on copper during World War II.