1878-CC $1 Morgan Silver Dollar PCGS MS66

This sparkling example of the 1878-CC Morgan dollar has a razor-sharp strike and booming luster. PCGS has graded 349 as MS66, with 50 finer. This piece is truly a PQ specimen of a very popular issue.

The year 1878 was the inaugural year of the Morgan dollar series, as well as of the important Carson City Mint subset. Consequently, numismatists have always been attracted to this date and mintmark. However, it is a rare coin, for many of them were paid out over the years by the Treasury department. Numismatic author Q. David Bowers reports that between 100,000 and 125,000 of them were sold by the Treasury Department from the late 1930s up to 1962. Because of that, GSA holdings were modest: 60,993--or 2.75% of the original mintage of 2,212,000. That precious remnant was sold during the GSA mail bids of the 1970s.

Miner working in the Comstock Lode in Nevada. Silver from the Comstock Lode was used to produce this Carson City Mint offering from AUCM.

Silver dollar expert Wayne Miller, who authored The Morgan Dollar and Peace Dollar Textbook, writes, "because most specimens are quite attractive, and since 1878 was the first year of issue of the Morgan dollar series, the 1878-CC is a popular silver dollar..." Bowers tells us, "The lustre is very pleasing on the 1878-CC dollar, usually satiny." Collectors will be happy to discover, according to Miller, that the 1878-CC "is one of the most consistently well struck of all the Morgan dollars."