1877-CC T$1 MS(PCGS#7045)

1877-CC T$1 MS (PCGS#7045)

Summer 2025 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Lot Description: Offered is a boldly defined and warmly toned example of a scarcer issue in the trade dollar series. Olive and pewter gay surfaces reveal underlying luster as the coin rotates under a light. Although produced to a slightly greater extent than the 1876-CC (534,000 vs. 509,000 coins), the 1877-CC is a bit more elusive in today's market. In fact, the 1877-CC is one of the most challenging trade dollars to locate in the finer circulated and all Mint State grades. The elusiveness of this issue can best be explained by the fact that the mintage was intended for export to the Far East, which is undoubtedly where most of the coins were shipped. This should come as no surprise to students of this series for, after all, use in the China trade was the raison d'etre for the trade dollar. Regarding this issue and its intended use, the June 29, 1877 issue of Virginia City, Nevada's Territorial Enterprise, reported:The work of coining trade dollars will be briskly resumed at the Carson City Mint July 1. The 'trades' are not for circulation here. They will be shipped to San Francisco, thence to China.With the Carson City Mint destroying some 44,148 trade dollars on July 19, 1878, it is possible that a small quantity of undistributed 1877-CC coins went to the melting pot alongside their 1878-CC counterparts - further contributing to the scarcity of the former issue.