1879-CC Morgan Dollar

A mint Washington wanted to close

The Carson City Mint stood a short distance from the Comstock Lode, yet in 1879 it was losing an argument about cost. The Mint Director's annual report that year explained that sellers demanded higher prices for bullion delivered at Carson City than at San Francisco, and the express company charged more to ship silver dollars out of Carson City. Mint leadership in Washington sought to shut the branch as soon as it practically could.

Superintendent James Crawford got instructions on January 26, 1879, to wind things down, even though the mint had ample silver on hand. The branch struck 546,000 silver dollars through March 1. From then until June 30 the coining room sat idle. When the order came to resume, another 210,000 dollars were struck, bringing the year's total to 756,000.

The Carson City Mint did survive. It struck coins until 1885, paused, and ran again from 1889 until it closed for good in 1893.

Morgan's dollar in the West

The coin carries the design George T. Morgan created after arriving at the Philadelphia Mint from England in 1876, with a Liberty modeled on Anna Willess Williams of Philadelphia and an eagle with outstretched wings. Mint Director Henry Linderman wanted Carson City and San Francisco helping to meet the monthly coinage quota set by the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, but all dies had to be prepared in Philadelphia. The first dies reached Carson City on April 16, 1878.

Every Morgan dollar was struck to the standard of the Coinage Act of 1837: 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, 38.1 millimeters across, 412.5 grains in weight.

America in 1879

The 1879-CC dollars appeared in a year when the country's money was being reset. On January 1, 1879, the Specie Resumption Act took effect, and greenback paper money was valued the same as gold for the first time since the Civil War. Silver dollars produced under the Bland-Allison Act were the government's concession to the silver interests of the West.

Elsewhere, Frank Woolworth opened his first five-and-ten store in Utica, New York, in February, the U.S. Geological Survey was created in March, and on October 22 Thomas Edison tested a practical electric light bulb that burned for 13 and a half hours.

From $7.50 to six figures

For decades the 1879-CC was within reach of ordinary collectors. A New York dealer advertised uncirculated pieces for $7.50 each in February 1951, and circulated ones for $2.50. In November 1974 a Maryland firm listed an MS65 example for $500, and in 1978 a New York dealer asked $1,495 for a fully struck gem, raising it to $1,800 by October.

In the early 1960s, bags of uncirculated Morgan dollars, including issues once thought rare, were found in Treasury vaults. Beginning in the 1970s, the General Services Administration sold the Treasury's remaining Carson City dollars by mail bid in seven sales between 1972 and 1980. The 1879-CC was not prominent in that hoard: only 4,123 were dispersed, making it the scarcest Carson City dollar of the 1878-1885 period.

Gem examples now bring serious money. An NGC MS66 sold for $64,625 in April 2014, and PCGS MS65+ coins have sold for $40,800 to $66,000 in recent years. On January 12, 2023, a PCGS MS66+ coin, one of only two at that grade, with dark red and blue-black toning around its rims, sold for $192,000. Two days earlier a PCGS MS64+ deep mirror prooflike example with a CAC sticker, the only one at PCGS in that designation, brought $120,000.

Clear CC and Capped CC

The 1879-CC comes in two main mintmark styles. On the Clear CC coins the two letters are crisp. On the Capped mintmark variety, catalogued as VAM-3 and also called the Clogged or Broken CC, the mintmark was likely recut on the die after a small CC of the type used in 1878 was removed so that the new large mintmark could be punched in. Die chips left by that repair make the field around the mintmark look bumpy. It is listed among the Top 100 Morgan varieties.

As with all Morgan dollars, the mintmark sits on the reverse above the D and O of DOLLAR. Gem 1879-CC dollars are scarce, and the population reports show how thin the top is: as of September 2025 PCGS had graded two coins MS66+, with none finer, and NGC one MS66.

The numbers

Mintage

756,000

GSA hoard

4,123 dispersed

Weight

412.5 grains (26.73 grams)

Diameter

38.1 mm

Composition

90% silver, 10% copper

Designer

George T. Morgan

Top population

PCGS MS66+ (2), none finer; NGC MS66 (1); September 2025

Timeline

1. Feb 28, 1878

   The Bland-Allison Act becomes law over President Hayes's veto.

2. Apr 16, 1878

   The first Morgan dollar dies arrive at Carson City.

3. Jan 26, 1879

   Superintendent James Crawford is told to wind down the Carson City Mint.

4. Mar 1, 1879

   Dollar coinage stops after 546,000 pieces.

5. Jun 30, 1879

   The coining room has been idle since March; work later resumes and 210,000 more dollars are struck.

6. Sep 11, 1885

   The Carson City Mint suspends operations.

7. 1893

   The Carson City Mint strikes its last coins.

8. Feb 1951

   A New York dealer offers uncirculated 1879-CC dollars at $7.50 each.

9. 1972

   The GSA begins mail-bid sales of Carson City dollars; 4,123 1879-CC pieces are eventually dispersed.

10. Nov 1974

    An MS65 example is advertised for $500.

11. Apr 24, 2014

    An NGC MS66 example sells for $64,625.

12. Jan 12, 2023

    A PCGS MS66+ example sells for $192,000.

The world in 1879

• Jan 1, 1879

  The Specie Resumption Act takes effect; greenbacks are valued at par with gold.

• Feb 15, 1879

  President Hayes signs a bill letting women attorneys argue before the Supreme Court.

• Feb 22, 1879

  Frank Woolworth opens his first five-and-ten store in Utica, New York.

• Mar 3, 1879

  The U.S. Geological Survey is created.

• Jul 8, 1879

  The Jeannette Expedition leaves San Francisco to try for the North Pole.

• Oct 22, 1879

  Thomas Edison tests a practical electric light bulb.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1879-CC Morgan Dollar is number 59 of 100 in the coins entries of the FLOAT 100. 96 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (74 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The Carson City Mint's coining room sat idle from March 1 to June 30, 1879, because Washington wanted to close it.
• Comstock silver cost more to buy in Carson City than in San Francisco, according to the Mint Director's 1879 report.
• In 1951 an uncirculated 1879-CC dollar was advertised for $7.50.
• The Capped CC variety exists because an old small mintmark was ground off a die and replaced with a larger one.
• Only 4,123 1879-CC dollars came out of the government's famous Carson City hoard sales of the 1970s.