1878-CC $1 Morgan Silver Dollar NGC MS64 (CAC) Ex. GSA Hoard, box included

The year 1878 represents the first year of the Morgan dollar series, as well as the first Carson City struck silver dollar. Therefore, numismatists have always been attracted to this date and mintmark. Over the years, many of them were paid out by the Treasury department. Numismatic author Q. David Bowers reports that between 100,000 and 125,000 of them were sold by the Treasury from the late 1930s up to 1962. Because of that GSA holdings were modest: 60,993--or 2.75% of the original mintage of 2,212,000. That precious remnant was sold during the GSA mail bids of the 1970s.

NGC has graded 6,407 as MS64 with 2,044 finer. In CAC, there are 622 in MS64 with 242 finer.

Miners at the Comstock Lode, where the silver for this coin was mined. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Silver dollar expert Wayne Miller, who authored The Morgan Dollar and Peace Dollar Textbook, writes, "because most specimens are quite attractive, and since 1878 was the first year of issue of the Morgan dollar series, the 1878-CC is a popular silver dollar..." Bowers tells us, "The lustre is very pleasing on the 1878-CC dollar, usually satiny." Collectors will be happy to discover, according to Miller, that the 1878-CC "is one of the most consistently well struck of all the Morgan dollars."