I have a cancelled 1878 CC seated quarter die................

majorbigtime

........obverse only. It's crusty on the sides, but has a relatively clean striking surface with design clear but most of date defaced. It has a heavy, single "chisel" cancellation mark across on a diagonal. Sorry, I have neither the equipment nor the knowledge necessary to post a scan.

Anyone have an idea of rarity or value??

hamiltonjh

borrowing THIS LINK from another thread, it might give you a place to start your search. It's from an auction for an original steel die used to strike 1882 $20 gold coins.

MrEureka

Dies are still rare on the market, but a large number of CC dies were recently discovered on the grounds of the CC Mint. It wouldn't surprise me if more than a few escaped into private hands and they soon work their way into the numismatic marketplace.

lathmach

I'd love to have the chance to examine it. I specialize in the seated quarters. If you decide to sell it, let me know.

Ray

kranky

In December, Holabird auctioned a lightly cancelled CC seated half reverse die. Unfortunately the link to the auction is dead so I can't post a photo. It was lot 623 in their Auction #23, and sold for $18,975 with the juice against an estimate of $5-10K. They may still have a catalog available. Link to prices realized in that auction.

lathmach

One question comes to mind, majorbigtime.
Tell us how you know it's from Carson City if it's the obverse die.

Ray

Shamika

<< <i>Dies are still rare on the market, but a large number of CC dies were recently discovered on the grounds of the CC Mint. >>


MrEureka,

Tell us the story of these recently discovered dies. Where they hidden? Who found them?

Rob790

Here's a link to the found CC dies

CC canceled dies found in 1999

Shamika

Thanks Robb.




<< <i>As a new park was being developed on museum grounds in January 1999, a startling secret was unearthed. Hundreds of coining dies from the Carson City Mint's heyday were found buried under a shallow layer of dirt. Used to stamp coin images onto gold and silver planchets, some of the "CC" dies date back more than 125 years.

The unexpected finding initiated a review of old records to sleuth an explanation on how and why the cancelled dies were discarded in this fashion. The best theory is that at the end of the federal fiscal year in June, books were balanced and an annual clean-up inside the Mint took place. Dies from the previous year were secretly buried in a trench dug inside a wooden shed next to the Mint's blacksmith shop, and covered with a thin layer of trash and dirt. To thwart potential counterfeiters, all the dies were cancelled by chiseling a "" or "X" across the die face prior to burial. The wooden shed was demolished many years ago, but the covered trench successfully concealed the die dump site until 1999.

Most of the dies found are heavily rusted and in poor shape. Small wonder, for metallic objects buried for over a century. A few of them are serviceable, however, and have been used to stamp coin impressions on silver bars and other items for collectors. One of the cancelled die dates utilized for this purpose is that of an 1876-CC Liberty Seated half dollar.

Probably more than just a few coin collectors fantasize about these artifacts magically restored to their original condition, so that more coveted "CC" coins could roll off the presses once again. The reality is, of course, the existing supply of Carson City Mint coins is fixed at best, and can never increase. Given the relatively small mintages and long-standing popularity of the coins issued by the illustrious Nevada branch mint, its a safe bet most of us will just have to keep fantasizing. >>

hamiltonjh

Very interesting story. Thanks for sharing that link.

majorbigtime

<< <i>One question comes to mind, majorbigtime.
Tell us how you know it's from Carson City if it's the obverse die.

Ray >>



Good dquestion. I bought it from a man in Carson City, and it has the same chisel mark cancellation as other cc dies

roadrunner

One variety of the 1878-cc quarter was struck from a cancelled obverse die. It would be very interesting if you had the identical die used to strike those coins. I don't know how precise the die cancelling procedure was but if they were burying dies in the ground, you'd think every cancellation was slightly different than the previous one.

roadrunner

majorbigtime

<< <i>One variety of the 1878-cc quarter was struck from a cancelled obverse die. ............ you'd think every cancellation was slightly different than the previous one.

roadrunner >>




Can you provide any info about the coin--I've never heard of this.

As far as cancelation is concerned, it looks as if someong grabbed a chisel, set it on the die (mine's diagonal), and whacked it with a hammer. Not a very precise process.

lathmach

The "cancelled die" variety Seated Quarter was not struck from a cencelled die. The 2 lines are much too shallow.
By the way, this obverse is raired with 2 reverses, one of which has..... the same lines that give it the "cancelled die" look, again way to shallow to be a real cancelled die.
Dies of that period were cancelled by using a cold chisel and hammer, so the indentation was quite deep. The cancel marks were either an X or a / across most of the face of the die.

Ray