1889-CC Morgan Silver Dollar. MS-63 (NGC).
As it is a key date issue and a noteworthy condition rarity, the offering of a fully Mint State example of the famous 1889-CC dollar is always a significant numismatic event. Simply put, this is a beautiful coin. Both sides are brilliant with intense luster that blankets the surfaces. Otherwise satin to softly frosted, subtle semi-reflectivity is evident in the fields, enhancing the eye appeal. The strike is full from the rims to the centers. Solidly in the Choice Uncirculated category, and ideal for inclusion in an advanced Morgan dollar or CC-Mint collection. Although it does not have the lowest mintage among CC-Mint Morgan dollars - that honor goes to the 1885-CC with 228,000 pieces produced - the 1889-CC is the rarest Carson City silver dollar of this type. In addition to a small mintage of 350,000 coins, the 1889-CC suffered an unusually high rate of attrition. While issues such as the 1881-CC, 1882-CC and 1883-CC survived in large numbers in federal storage, only a few 1,000-coin bags of the 1889-CC emerged from government vaults in the decades leading up to the 1960s. By the time the Treasury Department stopped paying out silver dollars in 1964 only a single 1889-CC remained to be dispersed in the GSA sales of 1972 to 1980. What happened to most examples is unknown, although it is likely that much of the mintage was melted, probably as part of the 270,232,722 silver dollars destroyed pursuant to the terms of the 1918 Pittman Act. Given the scarcity of circulated survivors, which are scarcer than those of the 1893-S, the 1889-CC does not appear to have been released into circulation to any great extent. Mint State coins are rare by Morgan dollar standards. We anticipate strong competition for the present example as it finds its way into a new collection.
PCGS# 7190. NGC ID: 2559.

Estimate: $25000