The 1879-CC is the Carson City date that hides behind the 1889-CC. With 756,000 struck it is the second-scarcest CC Morgan by mintage, and unlike the beloved 1882 to 1884 dates, it was a scarce find in the Treasury vaults: when the GSA sales catalogued the hoard, the 1879-CC was one of the rare dates in it, so the sales never made this coin common the way they did its younger siblings.
The date also carries the series' strangest mintmark. On many 1879-CC dollars the CC was punched over an earlier, damaged mintmark, leaving raised rust lumps around the letters. Collectors call it the capped die or capped CC, and it trades as its own recognized variety. A Carson City coin wearing the scars of Carson City equipment is about as honest as frontier minting gets.
The stealth semi-key. Most collectors budget for the 1889-CC and get surprised by what a decent 1879-CC costs. Both mintmark styles are legitimate, so learn which one you are bidding on, and as with every scarce CC date, certification is the entry fee: added-mintmark forgeries chase every coin with those two letters.
| Issue | Mint | Mintage |
|---|---|---|
| 1879 Morgan Dollar | Philadelphia | 14,806,000 |
| 1879-O Morgan Dollar | New Orleans | 2,887,000 |
| 1879-S Morgan Dollar | San Francisco | 9,110,000 |
| 1879-CC Morgan Dollar | Carson City | 756,000 |
Mintage figures: United States Mint, Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, cross-checked across independent published references. Specifications: United States Mint coin specifications.