1871-CC 10C Carson City Coin of the Week 8/21/2011

1871-CC DIME Carson City Coin of the Week

[img size=400]http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy166/BelayOff/CC%20coins/CC%20Coins%20-%20non%20owned/1871-CC10cMS-61NGCObv.jpg[/IMG size] [/center] In February of 1871, 6,400 dimes were minted at the one year old Carson City branch mint. Even though the mint had been officially minting silver coins for over a year, these were the very first dimes produced at the new facility. By the end of the year, total mintage of the 1871-CC dime rounded out to 20,100 pieces. Was this a reasonable first year's production for the new branch mint, or was this total far less than was actually needed to satisfy the area's fast growing commerce? [color=#0000FF]DEMAND VS POLITICAL REALITY[/color] It seems logical that small to medium sized coinage would have been in great demand in the Comstock region during the early 1870's. Other than the larger dealings within the business community where bank drafts and large gold coins were utilized, the average citizen in and around Carson City in 1871 was more likely to exchange small denomination specie for goods and services. Ordering a steak dinner, buying a new pair of boots, stocking up on food and staples, replacing warn out tack and similar, commonplace actions totaled no more than a few dollars and would have been concluded using mostly silver coins with the occasional small denomination gold coin. Certainly, ten and twenty dollar gold pieces were less responsible for wearing holes in the pockets of the common citizen than were dimes, quarters, half dollars (the work horse coin) and silver dollars. Consider too, that during the entire 19th century, every One and Two Cent copper penny, Three Cent silver coin, Three Cent nickel piece and Five Cent nickel was minted only in Philadelphia. A few silver Half Dimes were produced out west in San Francisco, but their production did not begin until 1863 and was not particularly numerous until 1872 . The point is that by 1871, no material amounts of silver specie smaller than ten cents had ever been produced in the western states, with the exception of a few half dimes minted in San Francisco. Certainly, some amount of small denomination specie would have been shipped out west from Philadelphia, but most of that mint's production would have been utilized by the much larger, eastern seaboard population and commerce. This likely placed an unduly large transactional burden on the modest number of dimes which had been produced at the San Francisco mint since 1859. For all these reasons, it made a lot of sense for the Carson City mint to produce a significant number of silver dimes in 1871 and thereafter. Clearly, there must have been a strong demand for the very useful dime in the commerce of the Battle Born state in 1871...certainly enough for the Director of the Mint to order Carson City's branch mint Superintendant, Henry F. Rice, to produce more than 20,100 dimes! Students of the Carson City mint and its coinage know that this small production of dimes was due, in part, to powerful political opponents of the mint which forced severe limitations on Carson City coin production, especially during its first several years of operation. These same officials then used the tiny, year-end mintage totals as evidence that the Carson City mint was superfluous and should be shut down. One need only compare the 1870 through 1874 mintage totals for dimes, quarters, half dollars and silver dollars from Carson City, San Francisco and Philadelphia to get a feel for the artificially created production imbalance. It did not help matters that the continuance of silver as a precious metal in this country was being hotly debated. To the chagrin of America's embattled Silverites, Germany demonetized silver in 1871, thereby removing its legal tender status in one of Europe's largest economies. International pressures combined with the growing political strength of gold proponents and increasing production of silver ore inevitably caused the value of silver to decline steadily during most of the 1870's decade. Silver's fortune hit its nadir with the Coinage Act of 1873, which pronounced gold as the nation's single monetary standard. [center][img size=400]http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy166/BelayOff/CC%20coins/CC%20Coins%20-%20non%20owned/united-states-mintworkers.jpg[/IMG size][/center] [color=#0000FF]REMELTED OR RELEASED?[/color] Despite the potentially high demand for dimes in 1871 within the Comstock region, Rusty Goe explains, in The Mint on Carson Street, that nearly 90% of all silver coinage produced at Carson City was stored, and not released to the public. This may have been true for virtually all silver coins produced at Carson City preceding the 1873 Coinage Act. In another chapter, Rusty describes the irony of thousands of stored coins being remelted each year, only to be used in the manufacture of the following year's silver coins. Like so many aspects of numismatic history, this point too is not shared by all. While researching sale prices of the 1871-CC dime on the Heritage Auction web site, I read one cataloger's description which pointedly stated that all 20,100 1871-CC dimes were immediately released into commerce! In this writer's opinion, the miniscule number of remaining examples does not support this conclusion in its entirely. Certainly, some coins were released, perhaps even the first group of 6,400, but likely not the full 20,100. These and other factors ultimately combined to produce one of the rarest and most sought-after series in numismatics, the coins of the Carson City mint. This is particularly true with regard to the August 21, 2011, Carson City Coin of the Week, the 1871-CC dime. Of the 20,100 dimes originally coined at Carson City in 1871, it's estimated that only about 110, approximately one half of one percent, remain in all grades. Of these extant examples, a mere half dozen or so have been certified as uncirculated. [color=#0000FF]CHARACTERISTIC SURFACE POROSITY[/color] One of the most commonly recognized characteristics of coins produced at Carson City is their surface porosity, a rough, almost sandpaper-like condition. In this writer's limited experience, this characteristic seems to show up most frequently on Carson City dimes. Additionally, I've found surface porosity to be most noticeable on AU and Mint state condition dimes. This may be due to the surface porosity tending to wear faster than the coin's devices and other features. [center][img size=400]http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy166/BelayOff/CC%20coins/CC%20Coins%20-%20non%20owned/molten_gold.jpg[/IMG size][/center] Most texts attribute the rough surfaces found on many Carson City coins to rusted dies and poor environmental conditions inside the mint itself, or a combination of both. Others have speculated the surface porosity is due to the possibility of the mint shortcutting the annealing process by using 100%, pure Comstock silver without the requisite 10% copper added for hardness. Of course, the only way to know this for certain is to melt one of the original 1871-CC dimes to perform an assay. I don't know anyone who wants to know the answer that bad! [center] [img size=400]http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy166/BelayOff/CC%20coins/CC%20Dimes/cc-dime-1874-cc-pcgs55-cactest_9.jpg[/IMG size] [/center] [center][color=#008000]POROUS REVERSE SECTION OF CARSON CITY MINTED DIME[/color][/center] [color=#0000FF] INSPECTION PROCEDURE PRESERVED MINT STATE COINS.[/color] The Director of the Mint required that all branch mint superintendants send examples of every denomination struck at their facility each new year. Had it not been for this requirement, many of the uncirculated Carson City coins known to modern day numismatics would not exist. As of today, there are only eight known uncirculated 1871-CC dimes, a few of which are likely resubmissions of the same coin. It would be very interesting to know whether Superintendant Rice recorded for posterity the actual number of 1871-CC dimes he sent back east for the Director's examination. It is well known that the Carson City mint did not produce proof coinage for collectors as part of its regular business. But in 1871, it appears that Superintendant Rice, or one of the mint's employees may actually have done so. In the Mint on Carson Street, Rusty Goe writes about one example of the 1871-CC dime which he believes should be designated as a Proof strike, or at the very least a Specimen strike. This 1871-CC dime is known as the Stack Specimen, graded a whopping MS-65 by NGC. Try as I might, I was not able to locate a photo of this fabulous coin. However, I will leave the space below open in case someone else does have an image of this coin and is willing to send it to me so I can add it to this article. PHOTO 0F THE STACK'S SPECIMEN 1871-CC Dime MS-65 NGC (PROOF ?) The definition of a "Specimen" coin varies between references. However, most sources agree that specimen coins are minted carefully from brand new working dies. A slower speed strike might be involved as well as a planchet purposefully selected for its quality. The word "specimen" is frequently used interchangeably with "example" when discussing specific coins, which usage has nothing to do with the quality of the strike and can lead to confusion. Authors typically capitalize Specimen strike while the alternative meaning is not. There is no confusion, however, when it comes to the definition of "Proof" coinage. Highly polished planchets are carefully prepared and struck more than once to achieve very highly defined devices, sharp rims and mirror-like surfaces. The speed of the die strike as well as the amount of pressure applied to the planchet may also be varied when producing a proof coin. The photo below is one of the two coins graded MS-65 by NGC. However, I do not believe this is the former Stacks specimen, the coin discussed above which may be a true, Carson City proof strike. Nonetheless, it's a beauty! NGC reports the owner's registry handle as "Yeoldeone". [center][img size=240]http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy166/BelayOff/CC%20coins/CC%20Coins%20-%20non%20owned/1871-CC10cMS-65NGCOBV.jpg[/img]

1871-CC DIME MS-65 NGC