1884-CC $1 MS PL

Key to Collecting: Again with the 1884-CC we have a Carson City Mint variety that exists in numismatic abundance. After the coins were struck, virtually all were inadvertently saved for generations of numismatists yet unborn, to come to light in 1964 and to be distributed into the market (see below). Today, while worn 1884-CC dollars are understandably rare, Mint State coins abound. Accordingly, the market price is very reasonable, and pieces are within the reach of all.

Surface Quality: The strike is typically average to above average, even sharp, but some pieces are weak at the centers. Cherrypicking is advised but will not be a great effort. The luster of some is deeply frosty and attractive, but on others is “indifferent,” to quote Wayne Miller.36

Prooflike Coins: Some are from prooflike dies, including DMPL pieces, and are seen with some frequency in view of the numbers in the Treasury hoard. Cameo contrast is the rule, not the exception, with 1884-CC.

Mintage and Distribution: In 1884 in Carson City, 1,136,000 Morgan dollars were coined. Early in the twentieth century, tons of undistributed coins were shipped to the Treasury Building in Washington, where, in 1,000-coin bags weighing 56 pounds each, they were tossed into storage. Occasionally, some would be paid out to answer the call for dollars, including an estimated 50 bags in 1955.37 However, most remained intact. After the great Treasury release was halted in March 1964, the General Services Administration holding of 1884-CC dollars totaled 962,638, or 84.73% of the original mintage, per a later inventory.38

Multiple die pairs were used to create 1884-CC dollars, and 11 combinations are listed by VAM. However, no variety is significant enough to create wide attention.