Double Struck Morgan In GSA Holder Graded By NGC

NGC recently certified a Double Struck 1882-CC Morgan dollar, still encapsulated within its GSA holder. The first strike was approximately 5% off-center and shifted towards 6 o'clock. The second strike was properly centered on the planchet. A doubling of detail is visible throughout the coin, and an off-center date appears just beneath the regular date, overstruck by denticles during the second strike. A double struck error occurs when a coin does not exit the dies after striking and receives a second strike from the dies.

Since NGC began to certify them in January of 2003, NGC has graded over 30,000 Morgan dollars in their original GSA holders Although a few error coins have been encountered, all were relatively minor being either struck-through or lamination errors. This is the most significant error coin that NGC has seen in a GSA holder. Mint Error expert David J. Camire further comments that "only about a dozen double struck Morgan dollars are known, and most are double struck in collar and most are dated 1921. This is a great find."



The coin's submitter, Chris Miner, proprietor of Holland Coin & Jewelry in Holland Michigan, acquired the coin in a larger purchase of GSA dollars, where it initially went unnoticed. He has long been interested in Carson City dollars, having grown up in a Michigan-town coincidentally named, Carson City. When he discovered the error he sent it to NGC for certification, where it graded MS62. He chose NGC for encapsulation because it was important that the coin remain in its GSA holder as a marker of its pedigree and history. While still considering various options, Miner plans to sell his prized find at auction later this year.

Carson City dollars in GSA holders have become very popular with collectors as emblems of the West. The General Services Administration (GSA) was responsible for sorting and marketing the US Treasury's hoard of silver dollars after the Treasury ceased issuing dollar coins in 1964. In a series of sales lasting from 1973 to 1980, this hoard of several million silver dollars, mostly Morgan dollars minted at Carson City, was dispersed via auction and fixed prices. Sealed in rigid plastic holders and boxed with a message from then President Richard M. Nixon, these silver dollars account for most of the mint state 'CC' Morgans known today.