Carson City struck their first silver dollars in 1870, the first year of coinage operations. They continued to strike Seated dollars through 1873, and Trade dollars until 1878, in addition to subordinate silver denominations and gold half eagles, eagles, and double eagles. Beginning in 1878, all of the mints, including Carson City, were primarily occupied with the production of silver dollars as a result of the Bland-Allison Act. Gold coins were also in production at the various mints. Coinage of silver dollars continued at Carson City into 1885, when operations of that mint were suspended. The cessation of operations was due to the extreme expense of coinage in comparison to the benefits.

The Mint at Carson City opened again in the third quarter of 1889, with preliminary steps taken to prepare the facility for coinage. Rusty Goe writes in The Mint on Carson Street: “Carson City Mint employees were eager to get back to work in July of 1889. Four years of dormancy had left the facility in a state of disrepair, but clean-up crews removed the cobwebs, aired out the rooms, and dusted off the machinery in preparation for a resurrection of coinage operations.”

The 1889-CC Morgan dollar was one of the lower mintage issues of the entire series, with just 350,000 coins produced. All of them were struck during the last three months of the year, with monthly production of 100,000 coins in October and November, and 150,000 coins in December. Many other less famous dates had lower mintages, but Goe explains that the many 1889-CC silver dollars met an early demise: “For unknown reasons, approximately 250,000 to 325,000 1889-CC silver dollars were eventually melted, securing this date as one of the keys to a set of Morgan dollars.”

The physical beauty of the Eliasberg 1889-CC dollar was aptly described by Dave Bowers in the Eliasberg catalog: “prooflike. Delicately mottled golden toning over silver, prooflike surfaces. Extremely well struck. A gorgeous, splendid coin in all respects. This is certainly one of the very finest in existence of this exceedingly important date and mintmark, quite possibly the finest. An exciting coin for the connoisseur and specialist.” Careful examination with magnification fails to reveal any surface marks on either side of this Superb Gem example. The strike is nearly full, even down to separation of the hair strands over Liberty’s ear, almost always a point of weakness on these Morgan dollars.

There seems to be a little confusion regarding the normal appearance of these coins. Wayne Miller, in 1982, stated “the typical 1889-CC is well struck, with average bagmarks.” A decade later, Dave Bowers essentially said the same thing: “Nearly all 1889-CC dollars are well struck with excellent definition of details.” However, another decade passed, and the Red Book of Morgan Dollars contained the following: “Usually an average strike at best, often below average.” In any event, assuming one can find a Mint State example, prooflike surfaces are common.

The typical 1889-CC dollar example grades just VF or lower, often with damage, and the issue is extremely rare in Gem quality, let alone in the stratospheric MS68 grade awarded to this example. While NGC and PCGS have certified 925 submissions as MS60 or finer to date, they have combined to certify only eight coins in grades of MS65 or finer. PCGS has certified this solitary example as MS68, while NGC has certified one coin as MS67; no other coins have been certified finer than MS65.

This coin will be offered as part of the Jack Lee Estate Collection in our 2009 January Orlando, FL FUN Auction, taking place January 7-11, 2009. Previews of this and many other numismatic treasures to be offered in this auction are available now at www.HA.com. Bidding will open in mid-December.

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