Spectacular Morgan Silver Dollar Auction

An 1889 Morgan Silver dollar has sold at auction for $660,000, the latest example of the spectacular prices that rare silver and gold coins can garner from collectors and an indication of the strength of the numismatic market.  The coin, containing the “CC” stamp of the Carson City, Nevada Mint is in prime condition, graded Mint State 65+. It was sold at the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money U.S. Coins Signature Auction in August. According to the auctioneer, Heritage Auctions, the 1899-CC is among the rarest Morgan dollars from the long-shuttered Carson City Mint.

Its $660,000 auction price, however, is not the highest price ever paid for a Morgan dollar. In 2021, an 1893-S Morgan dollar from the San Francisco Mint sold for a record $2,086,875 at auction. Professional Coin Grading Service graded that coin Mint State 67, describing it as the “ultimate Morgan silver dollar.”

Morgan dollars from 1893 are particularly rare due to the Bank Panic of 1893 that saw numerous banks fail. That year, there were low mintages for silver dollars at each of the mints, especially San Francisco. Morgan Silver dollars became even rarer when most of them were melted down as called for in the 1918 Pittman Act that authorized the conversion of silver dollars into bullion. Under the Act, more than 270 million silver dollars were converted into bullion.