1879-CC Morgan $1 Coin of the Week 2-21-10
- blu62vette
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14 years 9 months ago #927
by blu62vette
1879-CC Morgan $1 Coin of the Week 2-21-10 was created by blu62vette
1879-CC $1 Morgan Silver Dollar
In 1879 Virginia City was fading as far as it’s importance in the silver market. In Leadville, Colorado over 30 mines had sprouted up and west was continuing to refine large amounts of precious metals. In New Orleans coins were again struck for the first time since the Civil War. The combined mints produced plentiful amounts of silver dollars while other denominations seemed rather small.
During the first year of minting for the Morgan Dollar there were several changes made noticeable the move from 8 tail feathers to 7 tail feathers. The reverse of 1879 has 7 tail feathers and a slanted arrow feather (SAF) and early reports from the mint were that this reverse was performing well in the basin and the presses. Though this design was chosen, the 1878 reverse will still be used over the next couple years in San Francisco and Carson City.
The 1879-CC is the first of the key date Carson City Morgan Dollars. Mintage totaled 756,000 roughly 1/20th of the Philadelphia output. Most 79-cc’s exhibit a good strike and good eye appeal but finding examples above MS-65 can be a challenge. In the early 1950’s several thousand of the 79-CC’s were paid out by the treasury in Washington D.C. By the time of the GSA sale there were a mere 4,123 released or 0.55% of the initial mintage. This means don’t crack you 79-CC’s from the GSA case! I say this even thought I have seen a couple PCGS coins noted “GSA” lately.
There are currently 7 known die pairings for the 79-CC. The most noted and the only Top 100 variety is known as the Capped Die. First glance will tell you it is a weird looking mintmark. The mint was moving to a larger CC mintmark and had attempted to remove a smaller mintmark then punch the large mintmark. The result is die chips above and within the mintmark, a look as if the mintmark is broken or deteriorating. The Redfield Hoard is said to have 400 to 500 of the Capped Die variety, these coins were not from GSA sales.
I always have to talk about the PL and DMPL aspects of the issue at hand. The 1879-CC is scarce in PL and DMPL. The 1879-CC tends to be a more hazy grey prooflike than deep mirror prooflike. PCGS has certified 265 prooflikes and 69 Capped Die prooflikes along with 62 DMPL’s and 15 Capped Die DMPL’s. The non-Capped issue is likely skewed high based on regrades and coins later attributed as Capped Dies.
For some photos of the 1879-CC I have several to share, none of which are my coins but I can dream through my images. The images are of a 1879-CC in GSA holder (courtesy Holsonbake Numismatics), 1879-CC PCGS 64DMPL (courtesy of the Key West Collection) and a 1879-CC Capped Die PCGS 62PL (courtesy of the Key West Collection). To see much larger images please visit here, click on the small images to see the large ones. bluccphotos.com/clients/curry/1879-cc-dollar/
In 1879 Virginia City was fading as far as it’s importance in the silver market. In Leadville, Colorado over 30 mines had sprouted up and west was continuing to refine large amounts of precious metals. In New Orleans coins were again struck for the first time since the Civil War. The combined mints produced plentiful amounts of silver dollars while other denominations seemed rather small.
During the first year of minting for the Morgan Dollar there were several changes made noticeable the move from 8 tail feathers to 7 tail feathers. The reverse of 1879 has 7 tail feathers and a slanted arrow feather (SAF) and early reports from the mint were that this reverse was performing well in the basin and the presses. Though this design was chosen, the 1878 reverse will still be used over the next couple years in San Francisco and Carson City.
The 1879-CC is the first of the key date Carson City Morgan Dollars. Mintage totaled 756,000 roughly 1/20th of the Philadelphia output. Most 79-cc’s exhibit a good strike and good eye appeal but finding examples above MS-65 can be a challenge. In the early 1950’s several thousand of the 79-CC’s were paid out by the treasury in Washington D.C. By the time of the GSA sale there were a mere 4,123 released or 0.55% of the initial mintage. This means don’t crack you 79-CC’s from the GSA case! I say this even thought I have seen a couple PCGS coins noted “GSA” lately.
There are currently 7 known die pairings for the 79-CC. The most noted and the only Top 100 variety is known as the Capped Die. First glance will tell you it is a weird looking mintmark. The mint was moving to a larger CC mintmark and had attempted to remove a smaller mintmark then punch the large mintmark. The result is die chips above and within the mintmark, a look as if the mintmark is broken or deteriorating. The Redfield Hoard is said to have 400 to 500 of the Capped Die variety, these coins were not from GSA sales.
I always have to talk about the PL and DMPL aspects of the issue at hand. The 1879-CC is scarce in PL and DMPL. The 1879-CC tends to be a more hazy grey prooflike than deep mirror prooflike. PCGS has certified 265 prooflikes and 69 Capped Die prooflikes along with 62 DMPL’s and 15 Capped Die DMPL’s. The non-Capped issue is likely skewed high based on regrades and coins later attributed as Capped Dies.
For some photos of the 1879-CC I have several to share, none of which are my coins but I can dream through my images. The images are of a 1879-CC in GSA holder (courtesy Holsonbake Numismatics), 1879-CC PCGS 64DMPL (courtesy of the Key West Collection) and a 1879-CC Capped Die PCGS 62PL (courtesy of the Key West Collection). To see much larger images please visit here, click on the small images to see the large ones. bluccphotos.com/clients/curry/1879-cc-dollar/
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14 years 9 months ago - 14 years 8 months ago #928
by LITAS
This is my first 1879-CC $1 that was purchaced couple of years ago for $100. It is a G-6 VAM-3 or "capped CC". According to experts,this variety occured because of the changeover from the concave breasted Type II reverse seen on almost all dollars minted in 1878, to the Type III convex (rounded outward) reverse. In the transition at Carson City someone decided that the size of the CC mintmark should be enlarged. The result of this decision was a significant quantity of unatractive 1879-CC dollars.
Next from 1879-CC $1 G-6 I ended up with a 1879-CC MS-63 with normal CC mintmark. Next upgrade was a 1879-CC MS-64 with normal mintmark.
MS-64 is shown below. Now I have two candidates for trading at the August Carson City meeting, assuming there will be a trading session.
Next upgrade could be PL or DMPL. According to PCGS, MS-64 costs $9,500; PL MS-64 $12,500 and DMPL MS-64 $25,000.
John Armonas
Replied by LITAS on topic Re:1879-CC Morgan $1 Coin of the Week 2-21-10
This is my first 1879-CC $1 that was purchaced couple of years ago for $100. It is a G-6 VAM-3 or "capped CC". According to experts,this variety occured because of the changeover from the concave breasted Type II reverse seen on almost all dollars minted in 1878, to the Type III convex (rounded outward) reverse. In the transition at Carson City someone decided that the size of the CC mintmark should be enlarged. The result of this decision was a significant quantity of unatractive 1879-CC dollars.
Next from 1879-CC $1 G-6 I ended up with a 1879-CC MS-63 with normal CC mintmark. Next upgrade was a 1879-CC MS-64 with normal mintmark.
MS-64 is shown below. Now I have two candidates for trading at the August Carson City meeting, assuming there will be a trading session.
Next upgrade could be PL or DMPL. According to PCGS, MS-64 costs $9,500; PL MS-64 $12,500 and DMPL MS-64 $25,000.
John Armonas
Last edit: 14 years 8 months ago by LITAS.
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