1870-CC Seated $1 CC Coin of the Week - 11-16-09

1870-CC Liberty Seated Silver Dollar

Every serious collector of The Carson City Mint coins MUST have at least one of these "miniature works of art", the 1870-CC silver dollar.
After all it was the first coin produced at this mint, they do not come more special than that. Some CC coins are much more rare, but none can claim the title of being "The First in Mintage".

The 1870-CC dollar is extremely rare in MS condition. There are no more than fifteen MS coins left, however circulated specimens are available.

This coin is occasionally counterfeited. The method seen is the addition of a CC mintmark to the 1870 coin.

The reported mintages for 1870-CC dollar vary from 11,758 to 12,462.
Being the first silver dollar minted at the new mint, a number of these dollars were given as souvenirs to politicians, important visitors and some were saved by ordinary people as the first of their kind. The very first coin was reserved for the number one citizen in the United States, President Ulysses S. Grant.

Some coins were struck with prooflike surfaces and one coin pedigreed to Weimar White collection ("Coin Chemistry") is described as a possible proof.

In terms of varieties, 1870-CC silver dollar is known to have two obverses and four reverses. Duncan D. Lee in an article on "Major Varieties of Liberty Seated Dollars" published by The Gobrecht Journal states that in business strikes there are coins with closely spaced mintmark and widely spaced mintmark.

The word LIBERTY in the shield was not very prominent and tended to wear away once the coins saw circulation, however most coins were well struck.

Although The Comstock Lode was only 15 miles away, The Carson City Mint produced only 12,000 silver dollars from February to June of 1870. Most bullion depositors prefered to receive their silver in bars, since there were higher mint charges for the silver made into coins, which resulted in less profit.

At present, PCGS Price Guide lists the following prices for 1870-CC silver dollar,

G-4 at $600; VF-40 at $3,500; AU-55 at $10,000; MS-60 at $22,000, and MS-64 at $100,000.

1870-CC silver dollar is scarce enough and rare enough to be the
CORNERSTONE to your Carson City coin collection.

John Armonas

John,

Yes, indeed, this is an historic coin with a very special place in American coinage.
Yet, even while they were busy producing this coin at Carson City, political and business powers were already working towards the coin's elimination which came about just three minting seasons later in 1873.

Your coin has very interesting reverse toning. I would love to see it and hope that you would bring it to one of the next C4OA gatherings.

Congrats on a great Coin of the Week Posting John!

Belay Off

Great coin selection John. I love this coin. It is definitely on my want list. I had an opportunity to buy one in my B&M bi-weekly bid board auction in the late 90's. It was VG at best and the price started at $280. I was the only bidder till the bid board closing date and I couldnt get there for the close and someone else won it. I havent seen that coin since. It bothered me for a long time. :S :laugh:

While reading Jim Sneddon's excellent article about the 1870-CC Seated Liberty dollar in the Winter 2009 Curry's Chronicle, I was surprised to learn there are ten die marriages for a coin with such a low mintage.

John Armonas' coin pictured above may be either a Reverse 3 or Reverse 5. I cannot determine the obverse variety. I was thinking members should determine the varieties of 1870-CC Seated Liberty dollars in their collections to accumulate a member's population report. We could include rotated dies and other post mint effects such as love tokens and counterstamps. I would be glad to coordinate that information for a future Curry's Chronicle article or we can devote a section on the website to it. Members can identify themselves or remain anonymous. Maybe a new reverse or obverse will materialize?