1879-CC

The 1879-CC, at 756,000 pieces, is one of the scarcer Carson City Morgan Dollars and a Semi-Key issue that anchors the early-1880s CC mintmark collecting profile. Carson City's second-year output dropped sharply from the 2.2-million 1878-CC figure, reflecting both the smaller silver allocation Treasury directed to the Western mint and the gradual wind-down of the Bland-Allison Act's initial production surge. Two principal die marriages exist for the 1879-CC: the Clear CC, which carries a single sharp large mintmark, and the Capped CC (VAM-3), which shows the new larger CC punched over a partially effaced 1878-style small CC. The Capped CC is catalogued separately on this site as a Top 100 Morgan VAM variety.

Strike quality on the 1879-CC follows the standard Carson City pattern, with full Liberty hair detail and sharp eagle feathers on early-die-state examples and softer central detail on later die states. Most surviving examples grade VF to MS63 from circulation and broken Treasury vault releases, with the General Services Administration sales of 1972-1980 putting thousands of Mint State examples into collector hands in tamper-evident plastic holders. PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC populations cluster at MS62 and MS63, with MS64 examples available and MS65 condition-scarce. The GSA pedigree commands small premiums on original-holder examples.

The 1879-CC is a Semi-Key issue and one of the four sub-million-mintage Carson City dates that anchor the CC mintmark collecting set. Pricing has held strong for two decades at meaningful premiums above the 1878-CC and 1882-1884 CC issues, with the differential widest at MS64 and above where the GSA distribution did not fully relieve the surviving population pressure. The 1879-CC pairs with the 1880-CC, 1881-CC, and 1885-CC as the matched low-mintage Carson City quartet. For the Carson City production context and the GSA distribution history, see the Morgan Dollar series history.