1879-CC $1 Morgan Silver Dollar, Capped Die PCGS XF45 (CAC)

The 1879-CC Morgan dollar, with its low 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 Morgan dollars. That is because possibly 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, which is 0.55% of its original mintage. These were sold in the GSA mail bids during the 1970s.

PCGS has graded 294 of the "Capped Die" version as XF45 with 1,993 finer. In CAC, there are 36 in XF45 with 314 finer. CAC gives this rare issue a price of $2,660.00 in XF45.

Comparison photo of Clear Mintmark and "Capped" (Rusted) Mintmark, courtesy of PCGS Coinfacts website.

Ron Guth writes in PCGS Coinfacts: "The 1879-CC Silver Dollar is a very popular date. As one of the scarcest CC-Mint Morgan Dollars, it has an allure all its own. The mintmark is found either rusted or unrusted. The rusted version is often called the "Capped Die" or the "Capped CC." Of the two varieties, the non-rusted version is the most common and has a certified population about twice that of the Capped CC."