Top 10 Rarest coins from Carson City?

rhedden

The Carson City mint is known for producing some serious rarities during its brief but illustrious operation from 1870 to 1893. The purpose of this thread is to attempt to rank the top 10 "CC" coinage issues not by mintage or price, but by total number of surviving pieces . The top few places are easy, but it gets rather thorny after that. I suspect we will need the input of several people on surviving populations to put together a credible list, but I will start with the easy ones:

1. 1873-CC No Arrows dime. 1 known.

2. 1873-CC No Arrows quarter. 5 known.

3-10. ??


Now who wants to nominate a coin for #3? Let me throw the 1870-CC Double Eagle out there as a candidate (35 to 45 surviving pieces).


Edited to add: I think we should exclude minor die varieties or this thread will never end.

crypto79

Not in any order but

1876 cc 20c
1870 cc 20$
1875 cc 10$
1870 cc 10$
1871 cc 10$
1872 CC 1$
1873cc 10c
1870cc 25c

Hon Mention
78cc trade
71-72 25c & 10c
71, 73cc SLD

rhedden

Shame on me for forgetting the 1876-CC 20 cent piece. I think it's obviously #3. I guess we are debating #4 then.



1. 1873-CC No Arrows dime. 1 known.

2. 1873-CC No Arrows quarter. 5 known.

3. 1876-CC 20-cent piece, 16 to 18 known.

4-10. ??

PerryHall

What about the 1870-CC double eagle?

rhedden

Yes, that was my suggestion for the next on the list as well. Let's pencil it in.

1. 1873-CC No Arrows dime. 1 known.

2. 1873-CC No Arrows quarter. 5 known.

3. 1876-CC 20-cent piece, 16 to 18 known.

4. 1870-CC Double Eagle (35 to 45 known).

5-10. ??

AUandAG

1893-cc dollar, Branch Mint Proof.

bob

rhedden

The 1893-CC branch mint proofs are certainly major rarities, but I think they are a special Specimen striking of the 1893-CC Morgan Dollar, not a separate issue. I would recommend not including them only because the 1893-CC Morgan wouldn't crack the top 10.

Here are some nominees for #5 on the list:

1870-CC Eagle
1879-CC Eagle
1870-CC quarter
1871-CC quarter
1874-CC dime

Does anyone possess meaningful data on the number of surviving coins for any of these issues?

bulldozer

Add to the list somewhere:

TDN's specimen 1873CC STD Dollar.

10C 1876CC PCGS PR65 (or 66, I forgot the grade).

Unknown

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rhedden

Two more unique CC specimens for certain, but I insist they are both specimen strikings of a larger issue and have no place on the list of regular issues. OK, one is an intentional specimen striking and the other is the tragic result of a numismatic birth defect , but they are not regular issues on their own.

The 1873-CC Seated Dollar as a whole, including TDN's specimen, might crack the top 10 list, on the other hand.

Dabigkahuna

Any Carson City with a surviving number of 100 or less, I would think? Of course there are at least several dates in each denomination of the gold.

CoinCoins

82, 83, & 84 GSA's........ ya neeeeever see those

AUandAG

70 and 72 $5 gold are very scarce as well as the 70 25¢ piece.

might want to consider these.

bob

garrynot

<< <i>The 1893-CC branch mint proofs are certainly major rarities, but I think they are a special Specimen striking of the 1893-CC Morgan Dollar, not a separate issue. I would recommend not including them only because the 1893-CC Morgan wouldn't crack the top 10.

Here are some nominees for #5 on the list:

1870-CC Eagle
1879-CC Eagle
1870-CC quarter
1871-CC quarter
1874-CC dime

Does anyone possess meaningful data on the number of surviving coins for any of these issues? >>




'70-CC Eagle... All grades 70-80... Uncirc 1... XF-AU 35-40
'79-CC Eagle... All grades 65-70... Uncirc 1... XF-AU 40-45
'70-CC Qtr..... All grades 39-49... Uncirc 2... XF-AU 8-11
'71-CC Qtr..... All grades 35-45... Uncirc 3-4... XF-AU 6-7
'74-CC Dime... All grades 25-35... Uncirc 5-6... XF-AU 6-8
'70-CC Double Eagle... All 45-50... Uncirc 0-1... XF-AU 28-33

Source: Rusty Goe.... The Mint on Carson Street... Second Printing 2004

roadrunner

'70-CC Eagle... All grades 70-80... Uncirc 1... XF-AU 35-40
'79-CC Eagle... All grades 65-70... Uncirc 1... XF-AU 40-45
'70-CC Qtr..... All grades 39-49... Uncirc 2... XF-AU 8-11
'71-CC Qtr..... All grades 35-45... Uncirc 3-4... XF-AU 6-7
'74-CC Dime... All grades 25-35... Uncirc 5-6... XF-AU 6-8
'70-CC Double Eagle... All 45-50... Uncirc 0-1... XF-AU 28-33

I don't know about the gold but I think those silver coin #'s are way off.

The 70-cc 25c, 71-cc 25c, and 74-cc dime, are probably in the 50-100 range.
I'd put the dime as the rarest with 50-75 pieces (there aren't 5-6 uncs either), then the 70-cc 25c in the same range, then the 71-cc in the 75-100 range.
It's possible each of those ranges could extend by another 25 pcs. each. And the 70-cc and 71-cc quarters are not very far apart.

I did comparative studies on all seated denoms and the 74-cc was the leader among all "collectible" CC coinage by FAR.
The CC seated dollars and halves fell way short of these guys. Not even close. The CC dimes and quarters rule.

roadrunner

rec78

I think that the 1871-CC dime should also be on that list.

rhedden

I tend to agree with roadrunner's higher numbers on the surviving dimes and quarters, except that I think the 1874-cc dime may no longer be scarcer than the 1870-cc and 1871-cc quarters. Going by number of auction appearances at Heritage the past 15 yrs. or so, the dime is slightly more available than the 1870-CC quarter, and the 1871-CC quarter is only half as available as the 1870-cc (!), which is consistent with my total inability to add a decent one to my set. Another interesting statistic is that PCGS has graded 42 pieces of the 1870-cc, and only 32 of the 1871-cc. The 1873-cc Arrows quarter, which we have heretofore overlooked, is right there with 39 pieces graded. I therefore propose that, considering the evidence, the 1871-cc is actually the Seated quarter with the lowest surviving population, contrary to conventional wisdom. I am also suspicious that more 1874-cc dimes have turned up in the last decade, and both of the quarters have a slight edge over the dime.

As for the gold, the 1870-cc Eagles turn up at auction much more frequently than the 1879-cc Eagles, so I would have to give the edge to the 1879-cc. The surviving numbers for these are very close to the numbers for the rare quarters and dimes, so the ranking becomes very difficult and subjective at this point.

Here is my personal guess, based upon auction appearances and population report numbers. Others' lists will understandably differ after #3, so please don't take my ranking as gospel.

rhedden's "by no means authoritative" list:

1. 1873-CC No Arrows dime. 1 known.

2. 1873-CC No Arrows quarter. 5 known.

3. 1876-CC 20-cent piece, 16 to 18 known.

4-5 (tie) 1871-CC quarter (50 to 100 known)

4-5 (tie) 1879-CC Eagle (50 to 100 known)

6-10 (tie) 1870-CC quarter (50 to 100 known)

6-10 (tie) 1874-CC dime (50 to 100 known)

6-10 (tie) 1873-CC Arr. quarter (50 to 100 known)

6-10 (tie) 1870-cc Eagle (50 to 100 known)

6-10 (tie) 1871-cc dime (50 to 100 known)

garrynot

<< <i>'70-CC Eagle... All grades 70-80... Uncirc 1... XF-AU 35-40
'79-CC Eagle... All grades 65-70... Uncirc 1... XF-AU 40-45
'70-CC Qtr..... All grades 39-49... Uncirc 2... XF-AU 8-11
'71-CC Qtr..... All grades 35-45... Uncirc 3-4... XF-AU 6-7
'74-CC Dime... All grades 25-35... Uncirc 5-6... XF-AU 6-8
'70-CC Double Eagle... All 45-50... Uncirc 0-1... XF-AU 28-33

I don't know about the gold but I think those silver coin #'s are way off.

The 70-cc 25c, 71-cc 25c, and 74-cc dime, are probably in the 50-100 range.
I'd put the dime as the rarest with 50-75 pieces (there aren't 5-6 uncs either), then the 70-cc 25c in the same range, then the 71-cc in the 75-100 range.
It's possible each of those ranges could extend by another 25 pcs. each. And the 70-cc and 71-cc quarters are not very far apart.

I did comparative studies on all seated denoms and the 74-cc was the leader among all "collectible" CC coinage by FAR.
The CC seated dollars and halves fell way short of these guys. Not even close. The CC dimes and quarters rule.

roadrunner >>




I believe his numbers do not include problem coins. If some one can second that please chime in. His estimates are the latest available and not much different than what has been published by other researchers. I am relying on my memory here, but Rusty did write an article in his Curry's Chronicle in which he explains how various researchers settled on their estimates over the 20th century and how his estimates evolved.

Analyst

I have written my first article concerning the “Battle Born Collection,” a complete set of all 111 Carson City coins. I focus on the 1876-CC Half Eagle:

Finest Known Carson City Gold Coin

In 2009, I wrote a two part series on 1876-CC 20c pieces, in which I discuss the finest known pieces and the overall number known to exist:

Three 1876-CC Twenty Cent Coins Sell in Spring 2009; Less than Twenty are Known! (Part 2 - Rarity, Quality & Condition Rankings)

In 2007 and 2008, I wrote about 1870-CC Double Eagles. Regarding the number known, I am not sure that widely cited estimates are accurate:

1870-CC Double Eagles

Coinosaurus

Good article. If memory serves, Kobe/Fanning sold a Newcomer inventory in recent years. That could confirm the entire-CC set speculation.