1884-CC Morgan Dollar

The 1884-CC Morgan Dollar was struck at the Carson City Mint in 1884 and is part of the Morgan Dollar series.

Specifications

 * Designer: George T. Morgan
 * Obverse Design: Lady Liberty
 * Reverse Design: Eagle holding arrows and olive branch
 * Edge: Reeded
 * Weight: 26.73 grams
 * Diameter: 38.1 millimeters
 * Composition: Silver (90%), Copper (10%)
 * Mintage: Circulation Strikes: est. 1,136,000

Background
Morgan dollars would be produced in large numbers at all four mints in 1884 with the least produced at the Carson City Mint. Carson City Mint morgan dollars are the least available of all the mints. The Carson City Mint would strike the least Morgan dollars in 1884, with 14,070,000 being produced at the Philadelphia Mint, 9,730,000 at the New Orleans Mint, and 3,200,000 at the San Francisco Mint.

Collecting
The 1884-CC is accessible to MS-65 while higher grades command a premium. Market prices are generally reasonable for all, however.

The strike on these coins is typically average to above average, even sharp. Watch for weakness of the strike at the center of these coins ---on the face of Miss Liberty or the eagle's feathers. Cameo contrast is the rule, not the exception, with the 1884-CC.

Prooflike coins exist from prooflike dies but most on one side of the coin only. DMPL pieces do exist but some searching is required. Prooflike 1884-CC's are sought-after by collectors and worth the search.

Historical Background in 1884
April 22, 1884, the Colchester earthquake, England, the UK's most destructive, occurs. The Colchester earthquake, also known as the Great English Earthquake, occurred on the morning of 22 April 1884 at 09:18. It caused considerable damage in Colchester and the surrounding villages in Essex. In terms of overall destruction caused it is certainly the most destructive earthquake to have hit the United Kingdom in at least the last 400 years, since the Dover Straits earthquake of 1580.

On November 4, 1884, the United States presidential election, 1884: Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms. The United States presidential election of 1884 saw the first election of a Democrat as President of the United States since the election of 1856. The campaign was marred by exceptional political acrimony and personal invective.

On August 5, 1884, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor. The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue has become an icon of freedom and of the United States.

Die Varieties

 * VAM-1 Normal Die
 * VAM-2 Doubled 18 Top
 * VAM-3 Doubled 188 Left
 * VAM-3A Doubled 188 Left, Die Break Left Wreath Top
 * VAM-4 Spiked Date
 * VAM-4A Spiked Date, Pinned Wing Gouge
 * VAM-4B Spiked Date, Die Break E
 * VAM-5 Far Date, CC/CC
 * VAM-6 Doubled 18 and Left C
 * VAM-7 Doubled 8 Bottom, CC Tilted Left
 * VAM-7A Doubled 8 Bottom, CC Tilted Left, Die Gouge Cheek, Die Break ATE
 * VAM-8 CC Tilted Left
 * VAM-9 Dash Under 8
 * VAM-10 Far Date, CC Tilted Left
 * VAM-10A Far Date, CC Tilted Left
 * VAM-11 (Eliminated, same as VAM-3.)