Posted 02/11/2009 10:14 pm
Carson City Morgans have been the most saved and collected Morgans for decades, and the Treasury Department's sales of uncirculated 'CC' Morgans in the 1970's put several million Mint State 'CC' Morgans in public hands. Those 'GSA' Morgans included a number of 1889-CC's. In the case of the 1884-CC, 87.4% of the original mintage was still uncirculated and sitting in the Treasury vaults in 1964!
So what I'm saying is that 'CC' Morgans aren't as 'rare' as many would like to think, even in 'key dates' such as 1889. If authenticity is your concern, buy a PCGS/NGC Certified coin. Quite simply, it should not be difficult to acquire a certified 1889-CC Morgan in various grades (ex: VF to MS-60), if you have the money.
In this thread, I posted about the merits of 1892-P vs. 1892-CC Morgans. The 1892-P in MS-64 costs one-third of what the 1892-CC costs, even though the mintage and reported PCGS population (in that grade) are lower for the 'P' coin!
It was pointed out that the 'CC' coins were more likely to be 'cracked and resubmitted' in attempts to get a higher grade, thus artificially increasing the grading services' population numbers of same. I certainly agree with that, but I'll bravely estimate that the 1892-CC PCGS MS-64 would have a 'real' population of around 900 to 1000 (vs. the '1384' number reported by PCGS), and I think the '1223' reported population for the PCGS MS-64 1892-P is likely very close to correct, probably a real population of about 1200. This would make the 1892-CC indeed 'rarer', but not really 'rare enough' to justify three times the cost of the 1892-P for 'rarity' alone. This example pretty much proves that the MS-64 1892-CC is higher-valued simply for its 'CC' mintmark...
You have to remember that the 1970's 'GSA' sales greatly boosted the real populations of MS 'CC' Morgans, and this doesn't apply to any other Mint's Morgans.
And one more thing: The 'population' of Chinese counterfeit "1892-P's" is practically non-existent compared to the number of fake "1892-CC's"
Seriously, even if you wanted a counterfeit of an 1892-P 'business strike', you'd pretty much have to custom-order it from one of the counterfeiters.....
So what I'm saying is that 'CC' Morgans aren't as 'rare' as many would like to think, even in 'key dates' such as 1889. If authenticity is your concern, buy a PCGS/NGC Certified coin. Quite simply, it should not be difficult to acquire a certified 1889-CC Morgan in various grades (ex: VF to MS-60), if you have the money.
In this thread, I posted about the merits of 1892-P vs. 1892-CC Morgans. The 1892-P in MS-64 costs one-third of what the 1892-CC costs, even though the mintage and reported PCGS population (in that grade) are lower for the 'P' coin!
It was pointed out that the 'CC' coins were more likely to be 'cracked and resubmitted' in attempts to get a higher grade, thus artificially increasing the grading services' population numbers of same. I certainly agree with that, but I'll bravely estimate that the 1892-CC PCGS MS-64 would have a 'real' population of around 900 to 1000 (vs. the '1384' number reported by PCGS), and I think the '1223' reported population for the PCGS MS-64 1892-P is likely very close to correct, probably a real population of about 1200. This would make the 1892-CC indeed 'rarer', but not really 'rare enough' to justify three times the cost of the 1892-P for 'rarity' alone. This example pretty much proves that the MS-64 1892-CC is higher-valued simply for its 'CC' mintmark...
You have to remember that the 1970's 'GSA' sales greatly boosted the real populations of MS 'CC' Morgans, and this doesn't apply to any other Mint's Morgans.
And one more thing: The 'population' of Chinese counterfeit "1892-P's" is practically non-existent compared to the number of fake "1892-CC's"
Seriously, even if you wanted a counterfeit of an 1892-P 'business strike', you'd pretty much have to custom-order it from one of the counterfeiters.....
Edited by DNA
02/11/2009 10:32 pm
02/11/2009 10:32 pm
