1879-CC $1 MS(PCGS#7086)

December 2025 Showcase Auction - The James A. Stack, Sr. Collection Part I

Auktionator

Stack's Bowers

Losnummer

20007

Erhaltungsgrad

AU58+

Preis

10.800

Losbeschreibung

Easily among the finest, most visually appealing examples of this eagerly sought issue that we have ever offered at the Choice About Uncirculated grade level. Not much separates this thoroughly PQ piece from a full Mint State rating, in fact, and it is aesthetically superior to most 1879-CC dollars in lower Uncirculated grades encountered in today's market. The strike is boldly to sharply executed throughout, most features razor sharp, and with just a whisper of rub to the central high points. Plenty of mint luster remains, the texture softly frosted with subtle semi-reflectivity evident in the fields under a strong light. The entire coin displays luxurious, richly original toning in dominant reddish-russet, charcoal-olive and mauve-gray. Also discernible is underlying multicolored iridescence of reddish-gold, cobalt blue and salmon pink that boasts an impressive target-like distribution from the rims to the centers. The eye appeal is superb - a perfect match for this coin's premium technical quality.<p>After a promising start with 2,212,000 coins struck in 1878, Morgan dollar production at the Carson City Mint fell off markedly in 1879, when only 756,000 pieces were produced. Mintages would continue to fall through 1881. Despite its proximity to Nevada's rich silver mines, the Carson City Mint was forced to play second fiddle as much of the bullion mined was sent instead to the San Francisco Mint for coinage. There was so little bullion on hand at the Carson City Mint throughout 1879, in fact, that the presses were still for much of the year. In our August 2013 sale of the Battle Born Collection, CC-Mint expert Rusty Goe reported that Superintendent Crawford received orders from his superiors in Washington, D.C. to cease coinage operations in April and lay off workers. The presses in Carson City remained idle until August, after which only 210,000 additional silver dollars were struck before the end of 1879, which when added to the 546,000 coins struck earlier amounted to just 756,000 coins for the year.<p>With a far smaller percentage of the mintage represented in the various GSA sales of the 1970s, the 1879-CC is rarer than the lower mintage 1880-CC, 1881-CC and 1885-CC in Mint State. It is, in fact, the rarest Carson City Mint Morgan dollar of the 1878 to 1885 era. Two major varieties are known: the Clear CC, represented here, and the VAM-3 Capped Die, which is actually a Large CC/Small CC overmintmark variety that also displays considerable evidence of die rust in the mintmark area. Writing in his excellent 2020 reference <em>The Confident Carson City Coin Collector</em>, Rusty Goe accounts for 17,000 to 19,000 survivors of both varieties, in all grades. When considering only Clear CC examples in EF and AU grades, however, the author's estimate dwindles to 1,450 to 1,900 coins, a limited total when we consider the extreme popularity of both the Morgan silver dollar series and Carson City Mint coinage. In PCGS/CAC AU-58+ the offered coin from the James A. Stack, Sr. Collection is among the very finest in this grade range. It is an exquisite piece that would stand out in any collection in which it is included.