1889-CC $1 Morgan Silver Dollar PCGS XF40

After a break of four years, in 1889 silver dollars were again being struck at the Carson City mint. David Bowers writes, "The 1889-CC dollar is one of the great keys in the Morgan series, and among the Carson City issues it is far and away the most elusive." Unlike many of the earlier "CC" dollars, however, most of the 1889-CC silver dollars were paid out, mostly in 1889. The original mintage was 350,000. NGC Coin Explorer writes, “Unfortunately, it seems that a majority of [the 1889-CC dollars] eventually made their way to the melting pot, making [them] even rarer than the low mintage suggests.”

PCGS has graded 824 in XF40 with 2,423 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $4,750.00 in XF40.

The Carson City Mint, where this great rarity was struck in 1889. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

A smattering of coins--single coins and small groups--were paid out from the Treasury beginning in 1933 and 1934. Such distribution continued for many years. Significantly, there were no reports of any sale of 1000-coin bags of 1889-CC Morgan dollars. In his writing, Bowers made no mention of GSA holdings for this issue.

However, after publishing an article on "CC" Morgan dollars in the CDN Monthly Supplement Newsletter in 2007, a collector in Idaho called this author to say that he had indeed received an uncirculated 1889-CC Morgan dollar in one of the GSA mail bids. Thus the documented GSA holdings of the "CC" key date is a single piece.