1875-CC

The 1875-CC Seated Liberty half dollar is the Carson City Mint's high-water mark in the denomination. Its 1,008,000-piece mintage is the only instance when the branch facility crossed seven figures for half dollars, dwarfing the 59,000-coin 1874-CC the year before and outpacing every subsequent CC half through the series' 1878 close. The flood of coinage came as the Treasury rebuilt silver stocks ahead of the 1879 specie resumption, and as Nevada bullion from the Comstock peak moved through regional refining channels in volume sufficient to keep the Carson City presses running at sustained capacity for the first and last time on this denomination.

Strike quality on the 1875-CC runs to the soft side typical of Carson City silver coinage of the period. Look for incomplete detail on Liberty's head and the upper shield lines, with the eagle's leg feathers and arrow fletching often blurred where the dies failed to fill the recesses fully. The CC mintmark itself appears in two recognized sizes, a Small CC and a scarcer Large CC, and collectors building variety sets should examine the reverse closely before committing to a purchase. In circulated grades through About Uncirculated, the date is genuinely common and population reports run heavy, making it the standard entry point for anyone assembling a date-and-mintmark CC half set. The supply tightens sharply at Mint State 63 and thins to a trickle above MS-64, where original surfaces with intact luster and minimal contact marks command a real premium. Choice examples with full strikes on the head and shield rank among the more difficult CC halves to locate in true condition, regardless of the date's overall availability in lower grades.

For mintage tables across every date and mintmark, plus the design history from Christian Gobrecht's 1836 pattern through the 1891 sunset, see the Seated Liberty Half Dollar series history.