1889-CC Morgan Dollar - 1889-CC Morgan $1, NGC VF25. Here is an opportunity to fill a hole in a Morgan Dollar collection. The 1889-CC Morgan Dollar is the rarest Carson City Morgan Dollar and extremely difficult to obtain in Uncirculated grades. The coin is a very pleasant, lightly toned specimen with shades of tan predominating. The devices are well outlined and, for the grade, the surfaces are clean with no notable abrasion marks or other distractions except for an old scratch which is hidden in the hair and down to Star 13. About two-thirds of the hairlines from the top of Libertys forehead to her ear show plainly. The ear is very well defined, and the hair above the forehead is plain.
 
George T. Morgan designed the Morgan silver dollar, which was issued every year from 1878 to 1904 and then again in 1921. Hundreds of millions of Morgan silver dollars were saved in bags of 1,000 each, in bank vaults because the federal government created artificial demand for them to satisfy the Western silver interests. Some were melted in 1918, but large quantities remained in bank vaults and were later bought by investors and collectors. Because many millions of Morgan silver dollars exist today in the hands of the public, it has become the most widely collected coin of its era.
 
Morgans design for the dollar shows a close head of Liberty in profile facing left. She wears a headband inscribed LIBERTY. In her hair are cotton, corn, wheat, and tobacco. She wears a modified Phrygian cap and is surrounded with the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM, thirteen stars (seven left and six right), and the date. The reverse shows an eagle with wings raised looking left. In its talons are arrows and olive branch, symbols of preparedness and peace. A wreath is below and the motto IN GOD WE TRUST is above. Except for the eagles wing tips, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and ONE DOLLAR circumscribe the design. The mintmark is below the wreath and above the denomination.

The only complaint with George T. Morgans design for the new dollar was that Liberty was too heavy. For his model, Morgan used Anna Williams, a school teacher from Philadelphia. Charles Barber also submitted a design. His design showed Liberty as also being too heavy, but she was also dumpy looking and had a fat neck. Morgans reverse showed an eagle that looked unnatural. Barbers seemed more real. In any case, it was Morgans designs that were selected for the dollar. It is an irony that the first Morgan dollar was presented to Rutherford B. Hayes, the president who had vetoed the authorizing act.