Morgan dollar coin, 1893

The coin

This piece is an 1893 Morgan dollar, struck at Carson City. The obverse shows Liberty’s bust facing left, with the coronet LIBERTY, E PLURIBUS UNUM above, thirteen stars, and the date 1893. The reverse carries Morgan’s eagle with a shield, an olive branch, and arrows, the laurel wreath, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, In God we trust, and ONE DOLLAR. CC is readable under the bow. Both faces are photographed upright, full frame. Surface lines cross the portrait — on the cheek and neck — and the fields. They may come from abrasive cleaning; the photographs are not enough to assert that, or a numerical grade, or PL or DMPL, or a VAM. The edge is outside the frame. The example was not weighed or measured. PCGS (7222) and Numista (N# 1492, KM# 110) give, as type figures, .900 silver, 26.73 g, 38.1 mm, and a reeded edge. The piece is raw, with no PCGS, NGC, or other holder, and no GSA case. Authenticity is not confirmed from photographs alone.

Legends

Obverse

E · PLURIBUS · UNUM · LIBERTY on the coronet · thirteen stars · 1893.

Reverse

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA · In God we trust · ONE DOLLAR · CC under the wreath bow.

History

The Bland-Allison Act of 28 February 1878 ordered the purchase of silver and its conversion into legal-tender dollars. Morgan prepared the dies; Carson City, opened in 1870 to serve the Comstock mining region, used them. In 1893 that house struck 677,000 dollars with the CC mint mark, per PCGS (7222), and ended coinage: it was the mint’s final year of coin production. It later continued as an assay office; the building now houses the Nevada State Museum. The banking panic of 1893 shortened the series mintages. The GSA inventory cites a single 1893-CC among the pieces held back; that figure does not describe this example or prove GSA provenance. Stack’s Bowers notes that, in EF and AU, the date can be elusive, and that lower Mint State pieces often carry contact marks. This record describes the photographed object; it does not value the issue or assert authenticity.

Scarcity and type

PCGS publishes 677,000 as the business-strike mintage of the 1893-CC (7222). The same record estimates 48,000 survivors in all grades, 26,000 in MS-60 or better, and 30 in MS-65 or better: expert-opinion averages, distinct from the mintage and from a slab census, and the categories overlap — they are not additive. The GSA inventory cites a single example of this date. None of this fixes the state of this piece or proves that it came from a GSA sale. No price is published. The Philadelphia 1893, the 1893-O, and the 1893-S are other coinages.

Certification

No holder and no certification number. This module carries no serial number. The identity of this record is the photographed object: date 1893, CC mint mark, Morgan type. The surface lines on the portrait and the fields remain visible; no details grade is assigned here, and cleaning is not asserted. No VAM, PL, or DMPL is attributed. Authenticity is not confirmed from photographs alone. If it is later slabbed, the cert number will replace this note.

Related pieces

Another piece in the United States collection.

• Medal · First steam coinage · 1836
• Morgan dollar · Philadelphia · 1893
• 1 dollar · American Silver Eagle · 1988
• Morgan dollar · Carson City · 1885