1885-CC Morgan Dollar

The 1885-CC Morgan Dollar was struck at the Carson City Mint in 1885 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. 228,000

Background
The Carson City Mint would continue to churn out low mintages for the Morgan Dollar with the 1885-CC at an incredibly low 228,000. In addition to the low mintage, the Carson CIty Mint would continue to produce high quality coins, making the 1885-CC highly desirable to collectors.

The Carson City Mint would stop production of Morgan Dollars until 1889, adding to the 1885-CC's allure.

Collecting
The 1885-CC is key to the series. Most examples are well-struck, lustrous, and appealing to the eye. The 1885-CC is the rarest of all Morgan dollars in circulated grades.

Prooflike coins are struck from prooflike dies and DMPL coins exist as well. These coins are highly sought-after and worth the patience of acquiring.

Historical Background in 1885
On March 14, 1885, W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's The Mikado opens at the Savoy Theatre. The Mikado is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations. It opened on March 14, 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, which was the second longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time.

On June 17, 1885, the Statue of Liberty arrives 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.

On July 6, 1885, Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies. The patient is Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog. Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist born in Dole. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. His experiments supported the germ theory of disease.

Die Varieties

 * VAM-1 Normal Die
 * VAM-2 Dash Under 8
 * VAM-2A Dash Under 8, Clashed Obverse n
 * VAM-3 CC Tilted Left
 * VAM-4 Doubled Dash (Hot 50 Morgan Vam)