1872-CC 10C Liberty Seated Dime PCGS XF45 (CAC)

Ron Guth writes on PCGS Coinfacts, “From its opening in 1870 to 1875, the Carson City Mint produced very few Dimes. At 35,480 coins, the 1872-CC had the largest mintage of the period, but that is such a tiny number compared to the more than 4.6 million 1875-CC Dimes made just three years later.” PCGS has graded 11 as XF45 with only 5 finer. In CAC, there are 3 in XF45 with just 1 finer (AU58).

This is a challenging early Carson City issue, more difficult to locate than its mintage of 35,480 pieces suggests. According to Heritage Auctions, the 1872-CC has an estimated survival rare of 200 examples. Most of those are in heavily worn condition. This issue saw extensive circulation in the hard money Old West of the 1870s.

NGC Coin Explorer writes, “This issue is rare across all grades, but extraordinarily so grading XF or higher.” Always in demand as one of the early Carson City series of scarce-to-rare Seated Liberty dimes, the 1872-CC is hardly ever seen with above-average surfaces, free of impairments. However, this offering from AUCM has “above-average surfaces” and is “free of impairments”!

Christian Gobrecht, who is credited with crafting the Seated Liberty design upon U.S. coinage. Image: Wikimedia Commons.