1883-CC $10 Liberty Head Eagle PCGS XF45

Here’s a dramatic piece to add to your numismatic holdings, one with the famous “CC” mintmark upon the reverse. Carson City gold coins are coveted by specialists and collectors alike. The 1883-CC ten had a slight mintage of only 12,000. Several Carson City issues had similar mintages. To discover why, please see below. 

PCGS has graded 50 as XF45 with 109 finer. Collector’s Universe gives this issue a price of $6,500.00 in XF45. The finest is MS61 at both PCGS and NGC.

Abe Curry, the first Superintendent of the Carson City Mint and the founding father of Carson City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The first superintendent of the mint was Abe Curry, who is considered the founding father of Carson City. He also was the owner of the Gould & Curry silver mine in the Comstock Lode. According to Paul M. Green in Numismatic News, Curry “came with a lot of negative baggage.”

Continues Green, “Many other silver mining operations from the region refused to send their silver to any facility run by Abe Curry. That had an immediate and lasting impact. Despite sitting in the heart of one of the largest silver deposits in history, the Carson City facility never had very large mintages, for the simple reason that much of the silver mined in the area was not sent to the local mint, but rather shipped all the way to San Francisco, where it would be made into coins.”

In an interview with Nevada Magazine in 2018, Carson City specialist Rusty Goe presents a different scenario. He discusses the Bonanza Kings of the Comstock Lode; they owned the two most productive mines at the Comstock. Goe states that they sent the vast majority of their gold and silver bullion to San Francisco. “They would never claim not to support [the Carson City Mint],” said Goe, “but they seemed to send just 10 percent or less to Carson.”