 The same year, coinage began at the San Francisco Mint, where 6,600 were struck as opposed to 50,555 at Philadelphia.Mintages at Philadelphia declined for the remainder of the decade, to 7,036 by 1860; pieces were also struck at San Francisco in 1856, 1857, and 1860.In 1859, early numismatic writer Montroville W. Dickeson wrote of the three-dollar piece, "it is very unpopular, being frequently mistaken for a quarter eagle, and often counted as a five-dollar piece.