1899-CC Silver Dollar - 1899-CC Morgan $1 PCGS XF40 CAC. This lightly circulated, Carson City 1889-CC Morgan Dollar has very clean, lightly toned surfaces. Mainly light and dark shades of tan and some reverse build-up indicate that the coin is completely original. There are few abrasion marks, in keeping with the grade; none that requires individual description. All of Libertys hairlines are very plain. The wing tips and breast of the eagle show some wear, but the details are plain. The CAC sticker tells us that this is a premium quality piece that fully merits the assigned grade.
 
In 1873 silver was demonetized; however, the Bland-Allison act of 1878 required the Treasury Department to coin two to four million silver 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, and the present piece is a product of that resumption.

George T. Morgan was born on January 4, 1845 in Birmingham, England. Morgan attended the Birmingham Art School and won a scholarship to the South Kensington Art School. He worked as an assistant under the Wyons at the British Royal Mint. In 1876 Morgan immigrated to the United States and was hired as an assistant to William Barber at the United States Mint. Morgan reported directly to Mint Director Henry R. Linderman, whose office was moved to Washington D.C. in 1873, no doubt upsetting Engraver Barber and his son, Assistant Engraver, Charles Barber. Morgan was involved in the production of pattern coins from 1877 until his death in 1925. He designed varieties of the 1877 half dollar, the Schoolgirl dollar of 1879, and the Shield Earring coins of 1882. He became the seventh Chief Engraver in 1917 with the death of Charles E. Barber. Today, Morgan is most known for his design of the Morgan Dollar of 1878 to 1921. A recently found, although never released design was for the $100 Gold Union.

By some standards his career was a disappointment. He was an Assistant Engraver for over forty years and during that time designed only one regular issued United States coin, the famous Morgan Dollar. In 1917 Charles Barber died. Morgan, at age 72, finally became Chief Engraver.

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.

With Mint State examples running from $24,000 to $300,000 depending on the grade, here is an opportunity to fill a hole in a collection of silver dollars. In its population report as of November 2013, CAC has confirmed 26 1889-CC Morgan Dollars at the XF40 grade level. Only 3% of all PCGS and NGC certified 1889-CC Morgan Dollar coins have been given CAC stickers.