1891-CC Morgan $1 (1891-CC Morgan Dollar) NGC MS66. This superb gem 1891-CC Morgan Dollar is tied for second finest at NGC. It comes in an older type NGC holder, and has lovely peripheral toning with light shades of pink, orange, and tan closest to the edge and predominantly bright, white centers. The coin has an above average strike with almost full details on Libertys hair and the eagles breast feathers. The surfaces are completely original and clean, as expected for a superb gem grade. In fact the surfaces are so well preserved that the coin has the look of an MS67 piece.

The design by George T. Morgan shows a close-up 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, separated by stars, circumscribe the design.

In 1873 silver was demonetized; however, the Bland-Allison act of 1878 required the Treasury Department to coin two to four million sliver dollars each month. The act attempted to keep silver at artificially high levels. Large quantities of Morgan Dollars were minted, but they did not circulate well and were kept in Treasury storage vaults.

In 1884 Democrat Grover Cleveland became president. He fired all the Republican appointees including the top officials at the Carson City Mint and shut it down. A year later it reopened as an assay office. When Republican Benjamin Harrison became president, he fired Clevelands appointees and replaced them with Republicans. In 1889 coining operations resumed.
In 1890 the Sherman Silver Purchase Act modified the Bland-Allison Act. Under it the government was required to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver per month which was to be paid with bonds that could be redeemed for gold or silver. Much to the surprise of the officials, most bond holders chose gold, which depleted the governments gold reserve. This instability caused the panic of 1893, which led to the repeal of the Sherman Act and slowed the production of silver dollars. At the same time the Nevada mines were no longer as plentiful as they had been before. Combined with a low silver price, a scandal (a worker tried to smuggle gold out of the mint in his lunch box), and a struggling economy, the Mint Director, Robert Preston, ordered the Carson City Mint as a coining facility closed in 1893.

Most 1891-CC dollars, even mint state examples, are found with heavy bag marks. The issue is rare in gem and finer grades. In its population report, NGC shows 9 in MS66 with 1 better.