1875-S S/CC Overmintmark

The 1875-S S/CC Over-Mintmark is the documented over-mintmark variety where the San Francisco S mintmark was punched over an existing CC mintmark on reverse dies originally prepared for Carson City. The variety belongs to the broader 4,487,000-piece 1875-S mintage and is catalogued by major variety references as a Top 100 Trade Dollar variety. The leftover CC-punched dies were diverted from Carson City to San Francisco mid-production, where the CC mintmark was partially effaced and an S punched over it; the resulting hybrid mintmark shows traces of the underlying CC alongside the new S.

Authentication of an S/CC claim relies on examination of the mintmark under five to ten power magnification. The underlying CC protrudes through the S, visible as remnant serifs and curves flanking the central S form. The strongest examples show clear CC elements both above and below the S, with PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC attributing the variety in their slabs. Counterfeit and altered S/CC examples exist in the raw market, with the most common attempt involving filed or tooled S mintmarks made to imitate CC underlying detail; certified slabs are the standard purchase route at any meaningful price level.

The 1875-S S/CC Over-Mintmark is a popular series Variety pickup and one of the most-recognized over-mintmark varieties in nineteenth-century U.S. coinage alongside the 1900-O O/CC Morgan Dollar and the 1882-O O/S Morgan Dollar. Pricing trades at a substantial multiple of the standard 1875-S across all grades, with the gap widening sharply at MS63 and above. Most certified examples grade VF to EF; AU and Mint State examples are genuinely scarce. Certified slabs from PCGS or NGC with the over-mintmark attribution noted on the holder are the standard purchase route given the prevalence of variety counterfeits and misattributions in the raw market. For the Carson City Trade Dollar production context and the leftover-die salvage history that produced the variety, see the Trade Dollar series history.