Part Two - 1871-CC Seated $ - Coin of the Week 7-11-10

1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollar - Part Two

My CC Coin of the Week Colleague, Randy began this article on the 1871-CC Liberty Seated Dollar a few weeks ago. Following is part two of our article about this important Carson City coin.

The 1871-CC Seated Liberty Silver Dollar is one of the top "25" dates in the Carson City coin series. With a miniscule 1,376 coins produced, this rare date represents by far the lowest original mintage of all coins produced at the Carson City mint. Only one other date, the 1879-CC $10 Eagle, even comes close with 1,762 pieces struck. No other CC coin-date, whether silver or gold, was produced in numbers less than 2,000 for the entire year.

The handful of 1871-CC silver dollar as well as their million-plus 1871, Philadelphia cousins are members of the second type or, "With Motto" design, within the beautiful 1840 through 1873 Seated Liberty coin series. The oft debated and sometimes controversial "In God We Trust" motto was added to the reverse in 1866 and continued until the coins termination in 1873.

PCGS confuses the issue for "type collectors" by listing all 1871 Seated Liberty dollars as the fourth type within the Seated Liberty series. They describe the 1836 through 1839 "Gobrecht Dollars" as types one and two of the series. No one argues that the chief engravers Seated Liberty obverse design (with stars and without) is generally identical from 1836 through 1873. However, Christian Gobrechts flying eagle reverse on the 1836 - 1839 issues is radically different from the perched, heraldic eagle grasping three arrows in its talons, which design graces all 1840 through 1873 silver dollars as well as the half dollars and quarter dollars of the Seated Liberty series. In this writers opinion, the Gobrecht Dollars, minted in tiny numbers from 1836 through 1839, are at the very least, a separate type altogether. Many texts even describe them as patterns rather than business strikes.

In part one of our article about the 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollar, my colleague Randy made the point that not only was silver under demonetizing pressure here in the US, but there was impending change abroad as well. Frankly, given the enemies of the Carson City mint in 1871, together with the world's momentum toward a gold standard, we CC enthusiasts should count ourselves fortunate that the 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollar exists at all. Not only was the Carson City mint under attacked as a superfluous facility, the silver dollar about to be abolished by Congress in favor of gold, but also the pure economics of silver coin mintage were barely supportable in 1871. With silver valued around $1.32 per ounce, a customer dropping off silver bullion at the mint for conversion to coins would suffer a net loss of a few cents per dollar. Not a happy prospect at a time when those few cents could buy a person a meal.

But against all odds, someone did just that in August of 1871. Ultimately, the years lone silver deposit at the fledgling U.S. branch mint facility in Carson City, Nevada yielded 1,376 silver dollars presumably, for someone whose need for the coins could absorb the few cents per coin loss. To my knowledge, one hundred and thirty nine years later, no one yet has uncovered the ownership source of that single silver deposit in the summer of 1871. It remains a mystery waiting to be solved by some enterprising numismatist or historian.

Despite the higher value of silver and the coins immediate melt down profit potential, this meager batch of 1871-CC silver dollars entered western commerce successfully and stayed there relatively intact. Proof of this assertion is found in the number and condition of the remaining population of this important, rare coin today. With the exception of four or five MS-60 to MS 64 examples and a couple dozen AU pieces, the extant population of 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollars are well warn (averaging VF-30 to EF-40), indicating continued use and acceptance in the trade and commerce of the west.

Another perplexing fact is the unusually high percentage of the original mintage of 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollars existing today. My colleage Randy pointed out in part one of this article, that there are 125-plus known examples of this date combined in PCGS and NGC records. This number represents a robust 9% of the original mintage of 1,376! Excluding most Carson City minted Morgan Dollars and some of the "less rare" CC dates and denominations, the remaining populations of most other Carson City dates and denominations is typically only 1% to 2% or less, with many dates existing as a mere fraction of 1% of their original mintage.

It is no stretch to suggest that the 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollar is among the most sought after dates in the entire Seated Liberty dollar series. But like many other Carson City issues, its true rarity was not appreciated until relatively modern times. In 1969, when this writer was still sifting though Lincoln penny roles, an AU example of the 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollar sold at auction for a mere $1,300.

Soon, values began to increase at a stronger pace. But it took another twenty years for an uncirculated example to break the six figure barrier selling at auction for $101,500. Then, in 2003, despite the huge numismatic value crash of the early 1990s, one of the finest known examples of the 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollar broke through yet another important level by selling for the seemingly incredble price of $218,500. What a great value that was in hind sight. One does not have to consult Nostradamus to guess who might have written that check. (The preceding sale price examples taken from "The Mint on Carson Street" by Rusty Goe)

Fast forward to October of 2007. A handsome, but ungraded VF+ example of the 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollar was offered in a Stacks auction and yours truly was ultimately the lucky bidder, acquiring the coin for $8,745. Rusty Goe represented me and bid me at the auction. He was initially more excited than me since he realized, with his much greater experience, how fortunate we were to have acquired a quality example of this rare CC date. Not only had we made a really excellent buy on the coin, but more importantly, the piece met Rustys tough acquisition standards when pre-examined by hand before the auction. Ultimately, the coin was placed in a PCGS VF-35 holder, but not before we had gone through a year's worth of trials and tribulations with the PCGS grading folks and their perhaps overzealous use of their new toy, the "Genuine" holder.

The certification problem we encountered was not so much with the coin as with our unlucky timing in the sensitive world of coin grading. Ultra conservative political and commercial grading pressures, caused by appearance of the newly established CAC, made certifying any coin, especially a semi-warn raw coin, a tough prospect. I wrote about this particular coin and our little grading adventure in an article entitled "Coin Grading: The Sweet Science" for the Summer, 2009 issue of Currys Chronicle.



In part one of this article, my Carson City Coin of the Week partner Randy gave us a chart of published values for the 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollar. Certainly, published pricing is the place to start when planning an acquisition budget. But the reality of the open market can be quite different, as many of us have discovered when stepping forth to acquire any Carson City coin. We quickly learn that published pricing for these special coins is typically quite a bit low, even for an average condition coin. But when a collector is patient and is not interested in buying just an average condition coin within his or her targeted grade range, then the record shows that generally published pricing charts can be quite a ways off the mark. A few examples of 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollar sales over the last 24 - 30 months serve my point:

Publ for 2010: VG-8 > $3,000 VS 2010 sale: VG-8 > $4,745

Publ for 2010: F-12 > $4,250 VS 2008 sale: F-15 > $8,050

Publ for 2010: XF-40 > $12,500 VS 2009 sale: XF-45 > $21,850

Publ for 2010: MS-60+ > $75,000 VS 2008-09: Unc > $92,000-$218,500

One of our coin collecting avocations not-so-nice realities is that the more valuable and rare a coin is, the more likely it is that a material portion of the extant population will have been tampered with, doctored or just plain over cleaned in an effort to exact greater profits on the unwary. As an enthusiastic, but still very green collector, I've viewed only a handful of examples of the subject, 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollar in person. But I have also spoken to experts, read many detailed auction descriptions and have viewed extreme close-up photographs of many others. I found that even with coins in major certified holders, most examples were so harshly cleaned, dipped or otherwise "messed with" that they had been rendered unattractive and literally without life. Many had simply become very expensive place-holders.

Unfortunately, the published population of 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollars graded by PCGS and NGC does not differentiate between the "place holders" and the number of coins, all grades included, that are truly worth collecting. The current move to establish a "+" grade" by the major grading services would have been a great idea had it been introduced from the beginning. However, in this writers opinion, the "+" grade idea put forth now, after 20 million coins have already been graded, is without real merit. Until and unless these companies first make a major effort on their own dime to re-grade these 20 million coins, this collector will not be re-submitting his coins for "+" consideration.

In conclusion, a quality specimen of the 1871-CC Seated Liberty Dollar, born under fire and collected today as part of the rich history of numismatics surrounding the Carson City mint, is a privilege to own and a much greater rarity than generally realized.

Belay Off and Randy C.

Touche, Monsieur Belay Off. You have indeed captured the essence of the 1871-CC dollar.

Your coin is a great example of this true rarity, very impressive and must be quite a thrill to own. I agree with your observation of the grading lords of the professional grading services. On any other given day, your coin with its looks, could have graded EF-40, perhaps yours was graded on a Monday. I must confess though, considering how rare this coin is and so few times an example comes available, I might be content with having one of those "place holders" just to say I owned one.

In your pricing comments, I agree with you in the fact that price guides are mostly lower than that of what a coin of the caliber, the 1871-CC dollar, goes for. In fact I find that at coin shows that I have attended, a lot of CC coins go for a lot more than the price guides have indicated. And that goes for the full retail guides. One must realize that in pricing guides they are just that, just guides, and not the rule.

Another great quality job in authorship, I am honored to have partnered with you in this endeavor. Thanks.
-R-

It would appear that this coin could be an overlooked issue. Anyone care to comment?

Likewise Randy! Let's partner on another coin sometime.

Belay Off

Belay and Randy

Congratulations on your spectacular article of a very special "CC" coin.

It really puts in all in perspective when your fine detective work uncovered the fact that if wasn't for one lone shipment of silver bullion to the Carson mint facility, there would not have ever been an 1871-CC seated dollar. As it turns out, it was all political manipulation with silver and gold values that discouraged folks from exchanging silver bullion for coin....it was a monetary loss for those people of that time. No wonder the extremely low mintage of this date! It just goes to show that there is a story behind everything.

It would be nice if someone, somewhere were to uncover the identities of the brave soul(s) who did that exchange....without a doubt, they absorbed a loss at the time but boy am I ever so thankful that they did.

While it remains difficult to render a proper judgement on a coin simply by examining a photo I must say that your coin photo exhibits a very handsome specimen. It looks to me to be very solid for the grade. I agree with you that most every 1871-CC seated dollar I've ever examined (live and in person!) had that over-cleaned and lifeless look you so aptly described. Your coin looks many times better than several examples I've seen in AU!

In closing, I'd like to mention that your article here is one of my favorite COW posts to date since the C4OA blog-site Coin of the Week program began. Don't get me wrong you guys...all the COW posts so far have been outstanding in their own ways and in their own styles, but this one here is really terrific. It's quite obvious that you guys have done some serious homework....a great team effort!

Michael the drummer

Drummer,

Thanks for the glowing review of our '71-CC Silver Dollar article. My partner set the stage well, so it was easy for me to follow with the second part.

While my VF-35 example is a really nice coin, the strike is not quite as crisp as the photo depicts. I was not happy with the way the photo looked when first posted so, I added a little extra contrast causing its features to stand out better. Nothing else was altered.

I'm a total amateur when it comes to photography and especially computer enhancement of photographs. Once can only imagine how easy it is for unscrupulous dealers or crafty coin sellers who have serious Photo-Shop skills to alter the appearance of coins on the internet.

Litas recently stated correctly that most dealers allow a grace period to return a coin if the coin is ultimately not satisfactory once received. I would go further and state that most dealers will also ship coins to prospective buyers for their personal inspection prior to any price discussions and without having to send the dealer any money.

I have done this many times over the years though, I've had to initially provide references and, or credit information with these dealers when interacting for the first time. For this collector anyway, by first viewing a coin thoroughly and at leisure, I am able to better assess its actual eye appeal and true condition. If the coin is found to be as advertised and it meets my personal parameters, I can be much more confident about paying the dealer's price.

Sometimes a coin received thusly might prove to be less desirable than one anticipated although, perhaps still worth collecting. In such a case, a person would be in a better position to negotiate the price because the dealer has not already received payment in full. Of course, any decent Carson City minted coin will not have much, if any, room for negotiation anyway as they are so darn hard to find in the first place.

Belay Off