1879-CC $1 MS DMPL

Key to Collecting: Among basic date and mintmark issues, the 1879-CC is the first key or rare variety in the Morgan dollar series and is the second rarest (after 1889-CC) of all Carson City Morgans. Although thousands of Mint State coins exist, gems (MS65 or better) are very diffcult to find. There are two basic styles: the “perfect” or Large CC variety and the “Large CC Over Small CC,” on which, at the Mint, there was an attempt to tool away the small CC, so that larger CC letters could be stamped in that area. The Large CC variety is the more available of the two but is also more popular than the Large CC Over Small CC.

Surface Quality: Most 1879-CC dollars are quite well struck on obverse and reverse. The 1879-CC is typically encountered with attractive luster, although some are frostier than others, and still others are dull and lifeless. Not much searching is needed to find a “nice” coin, as such pieces are the rule.

Prooflike Coins: Some are prooflike on one side or the other, this not being particularly unusual. The prooflike surface is often hazy or “gray,” not deeply mirrorlike.

Mintage and Distribution: There were probably hundreds of thousands of 1879-CC dollars melted under the 1918 Pittman Act, but facts will never be known. In the early twentieth century, quantities of these dollars were sent to the San Francisco Mint for storage, and others went to the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. At least several thousand were paid out by the latter depot in the early 1950’s, one bag of 1,000 coins going via an intermediary to dealer Harry J. Forman. A bag from San Francisco went to someone in either Montana or Seattle.10 After the great Treasury release was halted in March 1964, the General Services Administration (GSA) holding of 1879CC dollars totaled 4,123, or 0.55% of the original mintage, per a later inventory.11 The Redfield hoard, dispersed in the late 1970’s, is said to have had 400 to 500 of the Large CC Over Small CC variety, these not coming from the GSA sales.

Several varieties exist, but the Large CC and the Large CC Over Small CC are the only ones that have attracted much notice.