1873-CC






General Comments


1873-CC is a key and sought-after date in the Liberty Seated dollar series, because of both its extremely low mintage and its status as one of the two rarest Liberty Seated dollar products of the Carson City mint. Its mintage is considerably higher than its cousin, the 1871-CC, but apparently, many examples were caught up in the preparations for the new Trade Dollar series and melted prior to reaching circulation. Finding problem-free examples requires patient searching. High-grade examples are extremely rare. Only 8 mint state coins are listed in the current grading service population reports, with another 25 in various AU grades. The highest graded is MS65. Both PCGS and NGC show one example in this grade. NGC shows one additional example in MS64. It’s likely that these three records represent a single coin, or two at most. One AU coin disappeared from the population reports since the first edition of our book was published, while the mint state coins increased by 2. It’s likely that one of the AU58 examples was upgraded. Lower grades are also very difficult to locate. Problem-free low-grade examples, below VF20, are extremely rare. Only 22 coins have been graded in that range. Population statistics are as of February, 2019.

1873-CC examples are usually found with strikes that are good but not sharp. As with most CCs LIBERTY is often weaker than would be expected for the grade. They often display slight softness on the star centrals and very slight softness on the wing feathers. High-grade examples are always prooflike or semi-prooflike. Due to the low mintage, the dies didn’t wear enough to eliminate their prooflike appearance.





Mintage 2,300
Proof mintage None
Mintage ranking 8th
Finest known MS65
Known obverse dies 1
Known reverse dies 1
Known die marriages 1
Most common die marriage OC-1/ R4+
Rarest business strike die marriage OC-1/ R4+

1873-CC Die Marriages


All coins issued were struck from a single pair of dies, our OC-1 die marriage. The reverse die is transitional. It was first used in 1870 to strike our OC-8 die marriage. It was unused in 1871 and 1872, but brought out again in 1873 to strike the entire mintage.

Click the link below to view the details of the OC-1 die marriage.

Die Marriage
Rarity
Obverse Die
Reverse Die
Estimated Survivors
OC-1 R4+ 1 1870-CC E 100

1873-CC is one of the most challenging dates in the series, rare in all grades. Finding nice examples can be difficult. Many survivors are impaired in one way or another.

1873-CC Emission Sequence

With only a single business strike die marriage the emission sequence is simple.

Emission Order
Die Marriage
Comments
1 OC-1

1873-CC Quick Finder Chart

With only a single die marriage known the quick-finder keys should be used primarily to verify that examples are genuine.

Die Marriage

Obv Die

Rev Die

Right Base
of 1

1 Vertical

Keys

OC-1 1 1870-CC E JR of LE SH Obverse:   RB of 1 is JR of LE. Date is centered and slants VS down.
Reverse: Medium wide CC.


Photo credits:

Obverse and reverse full photos:   1873-CC NGC MS61, ex. Eliasberg - Gardner, from the Heritage archives.


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