Rarity of the 1889-CC Morgan Dollar?

[VDB Coins]

We all know that the 1889-CC Morgan dollar is rare and in high demand in virtually any grade. The recorded mintage is low at 350,000 coins, but the 1885-CC (far more common, and survived in great gobs in the Treasury holdings of the 1960s) has a mintage of 228,000.

 

The greater rarity of the 1889-CC is apparently explained by an extremely low overall survival rate, despite the existence of a handful of really nice high Mint State examples, sometimes Prooflike to boot. Rusty Goe writes in The Mint on Carson Street that between 70% and 95% of the original mintage of 350,000 1889-CC silver dollars was later melted. Anybody know why? Goe estimates today that only 11,000 to 16,000 pieces survive in all grades, of which 4,000 to 7,500 are Mint State.

 

I wonder if anyone has ever researched this further or knows any added information? Thanks and

 

Best Regards,

 

George

[BillJones]

A lot of dollars (half the Morgan dollar mintage) met their fate in the melting pot because of the Pittman Act of 1918. The 1889-CC coins might have been in the unlucky pile of bags that were grabbed up and destroyed.

 

This issue as to which date and mint mark combinations were destroyed was not settled until the treasury hoards were completely dispersed. Before then unpleasant surprises for those who owned dates like 1903-O, 1898-O and 1904-O were in the offing. Yes 1898-O was worth a couple hundred dollars in the early 1960s.

[RWB]

Treasury staff recognized that CC dollars were of interest to collectors and brought a premium. They actively segregated CC bags beginning in the late 1950s when distribution caused the CC bags to be exposed. (Source: Archive files for GSA dollars, 1964 dollars, and scattered vault seals from NYAO, and Treasury HQ)

[RWB]

Specific to 1889-CC dollars --

 

The apparent condition distribution of 1889-CC dollars suggests that most coins were pulled from circulation, or from bags of circulated coins as the bags were distributed to sub-treasuries/FRBs and their branches. Uncirculated pieces would likely have come from several sources: 1) souvenirs and random removal from initial circulation; 2) mail requests by collectors to the Carson Mint; 3) coins selected from the annual pyx by Byron Reed, who was a member of the Assay Commission of 1890. [There were 175 Carson Mint dollars in the pyx that year; only 30 were destroyed during assaying.]

 

The TPG numbers keep open the possibility that one bag of 1889-CC dollars was released sometime after 1919, but that information could also be lost in two decades of unreliable population report numbers.

 

[James_OldeTowne]

I can only add my "real world experience". In circulated grades up through at least VF, 1889-CC is NOT rare, not at all. Honest assessment of the scarcity of the coin is a lot scarcer than the coin itself. When I see sets of Morgan dollars, the 1889-CC is present far too often for me to believe it is even remotely "rare". Most any Morgan dollar collector is able to find one without much trouble. It is, of course, certainly not a "common" date -- simply looking at the low mintage tells you that.

 

However, in AU and better grades, it is legitimately VERY tough to find, especially "nice".

[RWB]

All of the mints used 57 obv and 50 rev standard silver dollar dies in 1889. Each die pair averaged 406,108 pieces struck. I do not have the die breakdown by mint.

[DaveG]

Here's what Bowers says in his Silver Dollar Encyclopedia:

 

1889 - 57 Obverse; 50 Reverse

1889-CC - 10 Obverse; 7 Reverse

1889-O - 50+ Obverse; 50+ Reverse (probably)

1889-S - 5 Obverse; 5 Reverse

[BillJones]

I can only add my "real world experience". In circulated grades up through at least VF, 1889-CC is NOT rare, not at all. Honest assessment of the scarcity of the coin is a lot scarcer than the coin itself. When I see sets of Morgan dollars, the 1889-CC is present far too often for me to believe it is even remotely "rare". Most any Morgan dollar collector is able to find one without much trouble. It is, of course, certainly not a "common" date -- simply looking at the low mintage tells you that.

 

However, in AU and better grades, it is legitimately VERY tough to find, especially "nice".

 

Perhaps an answer for the rarity of Mint State 1889-CC dollars is that a substantial portion of the mintage was released into circulation. Silver dollars were popular out west and saw a quite of bit of use there. It looks as if few of the 1885-CC dollars were put into circulation (the date is actually scarce to rare in the circulated grades, but pretty common in Mint State.) while 1889-CC coins saw a lot more use.