Carson City Mint CC Coins: What the CC Mark Adds to Value

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission when a reader opens an account through links on this page. The commission has no effect on what you pay or on what we publish. We are not a financial or tax advisor; consult a licensed advisor for your situation. Last reviewed August 2026.

Short on time? The essentials

• The Carson City Mint was a branch of the United States Mint. It operated from 1870 to 1885, went on hiatus, resumed in 1889, and closed permanently in 1893.
• Every coin struck at Carson City bears a CC mint mark. In total, 50 issues of silver coins and 57 issues of gold coins carry the CC mark, spread across 21 non-consecutive years.
• Silver denominations struck at Carson City: dime, twenty-cent piece, quarter, half dollar, Seated Liberty dollar, Trade dollar, and Morgan dollar.
• Gold denominations struck at Carson City: half eagle (five dollars), eagle (ten dollars), and double eagle (twenty dollars).
• The 1873-CC Without Arrows dime is the rarest CC coin: only one example is known to exist.
• The 1876-CC twenty-cent piece is a famous CC rarity: fewer than two dozen are known.
• The 1889-CC Morgan dollar had a mintage of 350,000 pieces. It is the scarcest regular-issue Carson City Morgan.
• The General Services Administration held large quantities of Carson City Morgan dollars in Treasury vaults through the 1970s, then released them in seven mail bid sales between 1972 and 1980.
• An added CC mint mark over a Philadelphia or San Francisco host coin is one of the most common counterfeit alterations in United States numismatics.

On this page

• The Carson City Mint at a glance
• Why the mint existed: silver from the Comstock Lode
• What the CC mint mark actually adds to value
• Denominations struck at Carson City
• The verified CC key dates by denomination
• The GSA hoard silver dollar story
• Silver and gold melt floor for CC coins
• The counterfeit CC mint mark problem
• The cleaned coin trap
• How to read a suspected CC coin correctly
• What your Carson City coin is probably not
• Carson City coin FAQ

The Carson City Mint at a glance

The Carson City Mint was a branch of the United States Mint located at 600 North Carson Street in Carson City, Nevada. Congress authorized the facility in 1863. The building itself was designed by Alfred Bult Mullett, the Supervising Architect of the Treasury.

Coin production began in 1870. The mint ran through 1885, went on a hiatus, then resumed in 1889. It closed permanently in 1893. Every coin struck there carries a CC mint mark, and no CC coin can ever be produced again.

After 1893 the building served as a bullion depository. It was later designated a United States Assay Office in 1899. The federal government sold the building to the state of Nevada in 1939, and it is now the Nevada State Museum.

Why the mint existed: silver from the Comstock Lode

The Carson City Mint was built at the peak of the western silver boom. Its purpose was to strike coins from silver pulled out of the Comstock Lode, the huge Nevada ore body that made the Virginia City district famous in the 1860s and 1870s.

The San Francisco Mint played the same role for gold from the California gold rush. Congress wanted a second facility closer to the Comstock mines to shorten the shipping chain. In practice, much of the Comstock silver still went to San Francisco for processing.

The Seated Liberty dollar was the first coin ever struck at Carson City. Production began in early 1870 under Superintendent Abraham Curry, who was also called the Father of Carson City for his role in building the town itself.

What the CC mint mark actually adds to value

Every Carson City coin trades at a real collector premium above the same date struck at another United States mint. The premium is not sentimental. It rests on three concrete factors that any buyer can verify.

First, Carson City mintages were small on almost every issue. The mint produced only about fifty million dollars in total gold and silver coinage across all 21 years of production. That figure is smaller than a single average year at Philadelphia during the same era.

Second, Carson City is a closed history. The facility struck its last legal-tender coin in 1893. No CC mark can be produced again on a legal-tender United States coin, which fixes the total supply forever.

Third, the mint carries a strong Old West story. Carson City sits on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, near the Comstock mines that funded the Civil War Union. Collectors pay a premium for coins tied to that story, even on issues that are not particularly rare.

Denominations struck at Carson City

Carson City struck seven silver denominations and three gold denominations. The table below is the verified inventory of what was produced at the mint, drawn from Wikipedia and Rusty Goe reference works cited in Sources.

Carson City did not strike gold quarter eagles (2.5 dollar pieces), gold dollars, or any minor coinage. The mint focused on the silver and gold denominations closest to the Comstock and Sierra ore streams.

The verified CC key dates by denomination

Every CC issue is scarce compared with its Philadelphia counterpart, but a handful of dates command the strongest premiums. These are the coins any serious buyer looks for first and pays real money to secure in original condition.

Dollar values on these coins are highly grade-sensitive and move with the auction market. Use current sold data from an established auction house or a population report from an independent grading service to price a specific coin. Never accept a verbal offer on a suspected key date without a certified grade first.

The GSA hoard silver dollar story

Modern supply of Carson City Morgan dollars was shaped by the federal government itself. Millions of CC Morgans sat untouched in Treasury vaults for decades after production ended, held as part of the general silver reserve.

Congress authorized their release in the early 1970s. The General Services Administration, or GSA, was tasked with selling them. The GSA held seven mail bid sales between 1972 and 1980 that distributed the bulk of the vault stock into collector hands.

Each GSA-sold coin was sealed in a hard black or gray plastic display holder with a certificate of authenticity. Those original GSA holders themselves became collectible. A CC Morgan still sealed in its original GSA holder often trades above the loose-coin price at the same grade level.

Independent grading services now offer to grade a CC Morgan and preserve its GSA holder intact, either by encapsulating the whole holder or by cross-listing the GSA provenance on the grading label. A GSA pedigree on a scarce CC date is a real premium factor and worth verifying carefully.

Silver and gold melt floor for CC coins

Every Carson City coin has a metal floor based on its weight and fineness. That floor sets a hard lower bound on price. A common-date CC in low grade will trade close to that floor. A scarce date or a certified high grade will trade well above it.

Note on scope: our sister site whitemetalres.com covers deep melt calculations and silverware recovery in detail. On this page the melt floor exists as a lower bound only, because the CC premium above metal is the actual price story on almost every issue.

The counterfeit CC mint mark problem

Carson City coins are among the most-faked United States issues. The reason is simple: adding a CC mint mark to a common host coin is the cheapest way to fabricate a scarce date, and the price gap between P and CC on some issues is enormous.

The classic counterfeit alters a genuine common Philadelphia coin by tooling a fake CC onto the reverse in the correct position. A 1889 Philadelphia Morgan turned into a fake 1889-CC is the textbook example. The 1893-S Morgan and the 1878-CC eagle are also frequent targets.

A second family of fakes is fully counterfeit. These are cast or die-struck replicas imported from overseas since the mid-2000s. Weight is often close, but diameter, edge reeding, and design detail rarely match the genuine coin under magnification.

Any purchase of a suspected CC key date should be certified by an independent grading service before funds change hands. A photograph review or a verbal appraisal from a shop counter is not sufficient at four-figure and five-figure price levels.

The cleaned coin trap

The single most common way collectors lose value on inherited Carson City coins is by cleaning them. A bright shiny coin looks more valuable to a non-collector than a naturally toned one, so many well-meaning heirs polish or dip a CC piece before showing it to a dealer.

Independent grading services detect cleaning almost every time. A cleaned coin gets a details grade rather than a numeric grade. The market discount is typically 40 to 70 percent versus an original example of the same date and wear level.

The rule is simple. Do not clean the coin. Not with silver polish, not with a jewelry cloth, not with baking soda, not with an ultrasonic bath. If a CC coin is dirty, leave it dirty and let a professional look at it in that state.

How to read a suspected CC coin correctly

The steps below are the sequence a serious hobbyist runs on a coin suspected to carry a Carson City mint mark. Follow them in order before treating any CC-marked piece as either scarce or ordinary.

1. Locate the mint mark first. On silver coins the mint mark sits on the reverse, below the wreath or below the eagle depending on series. On gold half eagles and eagles it sits below the eagle. Read the exact position for your series before drawing conclusions.
2. Confirm the mark actually reads CC. The two letter forms are distinctive. Weak or tooled marks, marks with an odd shape or misalignment, or a CC that appears sharper than the rest of the design are red flags for an added mint mark.
3. Weigh the coin on a jewelry scale. Match the weight to the series specification. A genuine Morgan is 26.73 grams. A genuine half eagle is 8.359 grams. Any weight far outside spec points to a fake or a plated core.
4. Check the year against the CC production windows. Carson City struck coins only in 1870 to 1885 and 1889 to 1893. A CC-marked coin dated 1886, 1887, or 1888 is not authentic. Confirm the denomination was struck in the year on your coin.
5. Screen for the famous CC keys. Look specifically for 1873-CC No Arrows dime, 1876-CC twenty cent, 1878-CC eagle, 1889-CC Morgan, 1893-CC Morgan, 1870-CC Seated Liberty dollar, and 1870-CC double eagle. Any suspected key deserves close review under 10x magnification.
6. Do not clean the coin. Any polishing, dipping, or scrubbing lowers the grade a professional will assign. Cleaning can cut market value by half or more. Preserve the coin exactly as found.
7. Submit high-value candidates for certification. A certified grade from an established independent grading service is the only price signal the market takes seriously on a suspected key date, a suspected altered mark, or any coin approaching four figures in value.

What your Carson City coin is probably not

Carson City coin FAQ

Sources

1. Wikipedia, Carson City Mint. Confirms operational windows of 1870 to 1885 and 1889 to 1893, total of 21 non-consecutive years of production, 50 issues of silver coins and 57 issues of gold coins bearing the CC mint mark, silver denominations (Seated Liberty dime 1871 to 1878, twenty-cent piece 1875 and 1876, Seated Liberty quarter 1870 to 1878, Seated Liberty half dollar 1870 to 1878, Seated Liberty dollar 1870 to 1873, Trade dollar 1873 to 1878, Morgan dollar 1878 to 1885 and 1889 to 1893), gold denominations (half eagle 1870 to 1884 and 1890 to 1893, eagle 1870 to 1884 and 1890 to 1893, double eagle 1870 to 1879, 1882 to 1885, and 1889 to 1893), Seated Liberty dollar as first coin struck at Carson City, building designed by Alfred Bult Mullett, construction supervised by Abraham Curry, over 50 million dollars total gold and silver coinage produced, later use as bullion depository and Assay Office (1899), federal sale to state of Nevada in 1939, current use as Nevada State Museum, 1873-CC Without Arrows dime as the rarest CC coin with only one known specimen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson_City_Mint. Checked August 2026.
2. Wikipedia, Twenty-cent piece (United States). Confirms series ran from 1875 to 1878, with Carson City and San Francisco mint marks placed below the eagle on the reverse, and the 1876-CC as a famous rarity of fewer than two dozen known examples. Cites Professional Coin Grading Service CoinFacts for the 1876-CC 20C population data. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-cent_piece_(United_States). Checked August 2026.
3. Wikipedia, Morgan dollar. Reference for the Carson City Morgan production windows of 1878 to 1885 and 1889 to 1893, 1889-CC Morgan mintage of 350,000 pieces, GSA sales of 1972 to 1980, and the CC premium factor across the series. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_dollar. Checked August 2026.
4. United States Mint, Historical Mint Facilities. Publisher of official information on branch mint facilities, including the Carson City Mint. usmint.gov/learn/history-and-artistry/historical-mint-facilities. Checked August 2026.
5. Professional Coin Grading Service, CoinFacts. Public reference on mintage figures, population reports, and rarity data for United States coins, including Carson City issues. Wikipedia twenty-cent-piece article cites this source for the 1876-CC survival estimate. pcgs.com/coinfacts. Checked August 2026.
6. Rusty Goe, The Confident Carson City Coin Collector, 3-volume set, Southgate Coins Publishing, Reno, Nevada, 2020. ISBN 978-0974616940. Cited by Wikipedia as the standing reference on Carson City coinage, including detailed mintage and rarity data across every CC denomination. openlibrary.org catalog record. Checked August 2026.
7. Nevada State Museum, Carson City. Institutional home of the former Carson City Mint building. Coin Press No. 1, the original mint press, remains on site and is used to strike commemorative medallions bearing the CC mark. carsonnvmuseum.org. Checked August 2026.

By the Harry’s Coins Editorial team. Last reviewed August 2026.