1875-S/CC TRADE T$1, OVERMINTMARK MS64

GEM SURFACES LAYERED WITH A LIGHT ROSE PATINA. JUST A SINGLE MS65 GRADED HIGHER. For years, the Trade Dollar series was regarded as one of the more banal in the U.S. coinage family. Today, however, a host of hub and other varieties are known, many of which are rare and all of which are steadily growing in popularity among specialized collectors. The series' only overmintmark is the 1875-S/CC, which was created when Mint employees partially effaced the CC mintmark from at least two reverse dies and then entered an S mintmark for use at the San Francisco facility. The undermintark escaped numismatic attention until the early 1960s. We do not know exactly how many 1875-S/CC Trade Dollars were produced as the mintage is included in the total of 4.4 million pieces reported for the 1875-S. The number could not have been all that great, however, and it probably amounted to no more than a few thousand coins. Today, survivors are elusive in all grades, and most are circulated to one degree or another. Mint State examples are nothing short of rare, which is understandable given the fact that there was virtually no numismatic interest in the Trade Dollar series as a whole among the contemporary public. As such, most examples are all issues were shipped to the Orient without any fanfare. Once there, the coins were worn or, in most cases, melted.