1879-CC $1 Morgan Silver Dollar, Capped Die, PCGS MS64+ (CAC)--Condition Rarity

It is with pride that we at AUCM offer both a Great Rarity and a Condition Rarity: 1879-CC $1 Morgan dollar, Capped Die, graded PCGS MS64+ (CAC). The 1879-CC Morgan dollar, with its mintage of 756,000, is the first key date of the Morgan dollar series and the second rarest (after 1889-CC) of all Carson City silver dollars. That is because perhaps hundreds of thousands of them were melted down under the Pittman Act of 1918. Several thousand 1879-CC dollars were paid out from the Treasury building in Washington, D.C., during the early 1950s. After the Treasury release ended in 1964, the GSA holdings of 1879-CC dollars numbered only 4,123,or 0.55% of its original mintage. These were sold in the GSA mail bids during the 1970s and 1980.

There are two basic types of 1879-CC dollar: the 'Large CC' variety and the much more rare 'Large CC over Small CC.' The current offering by AUCM is the elusive 'Large CC over Small CC' variety. This is a very attractive collectable choice example. Numismatic author and auctioneer Q. David Bowers tells us, "Most 1879-CC dollars are quite well struck on obverse and reverse. The 1879-CC is typically encountered with attractive lustre.... Not much searching is needed to find a 'nice' coin, as such pieces are the rule."