Rusty Goe: The Carson City Mint increased its coinage production by nearly 70 percent in 1872 from 1871's output. The bulk of the increase, from 214,958 coins to 360,380, came from the nearly 132,000 additional half dollars struck in 1872. According to official U.S. Mint records, dime production rose nearly 20 percent to 24,000 pieces. According to research done at the National Archives during the mid-1970s, however, the Carson Mint's yield of dimes increased by almost 77 percent in 1872 from the 1871 total. Mint Bureau records from the 1870s show that the Carson Mint delivered 11,480 dimes in the first half of 1872, and 24,000 in the second half. Perhaps later U.S. Mint statisticians failed to count the first half's output. It's too late to request an audit, so we will live with the discrepancy in the data reported. The main question collectors in the 21st century want answered is: regardless of the mintage, how many 1872-CC dimes survive? By 1872, citizens in other parts of the country were hearing more about Carson City, Nevada than they had at any time in that small hamlet's 14-year history. The Comstock Lode located about 15 miles from Carson City, brought that whole region of northwestern Nevada much publicity. Mark Twain's popular book, Roughing It, which debuted in 1872, told entertaining stories of the author's arrival in Nevada's territorial capital in the early 1860s, as well as many other tales about Twain's adventures out West.

Even Director of the Mint James Pollock, cast favorable light on Carson City, in his annual report for 1872. He wrote that the branch mint in that town "has been most successful in its operations during the past year." Pollock went on to say that the Carson Mint's "energetic Superintendent [Henry F. Rice]" had full confidence in the future success of the branch under his supervision.

1872-CC dimes are scarce, especially in grades above Very Fine.

Q. David Bowers: The numismatic availability of the 1872-CC dime closely follows that of the 1871-CC. Distribution at the time was regional where the coins received intense use. In this year, continuing until April 20, 1876, silver coins did not circulate at par in the East or Midwest. They continued to be hoarded by the public beginning in spring 1862, early in the Civil War. When the conflict ended in April 1865 many thought that silver coins would soon return, but monetary uncertainty continued and it was not until 1876 that silver coins achieved par with Legal Tender notes. For this reason no Carson City coins reached the channels of commerce in those regions until later years.

In the meantime, on the West Coast silver coins remained in circulation and it was the Legal Tender notes that were not seen in commerce -- just the reverse of the situation elsewhere. Rusty Goe estimates that 80 to 150 examples of the 1872-CC dime exist in all grades, of which perhaps three or four can be called Mint State. For this and other early Carson City issues, population reports issued by PCGS and NGC for coins in higher grades, EF to Mint State, can be misleading due to multiple submissions. Often the observations of old-timers who have dealt with great collections are more reliable. It is worth noting that the 1872-CC dimes in the Louis E. Eliasberg Collection and the Norweb Collection were both circulated. In this context the Battle Born example is all the more important. Porosity is the rule, not the exception among pieces grading from, say, VG to VF. In these grades an example with truly smooth surfaces is worth a significant premium. Brian Greer notes that this variety has widely spaced reeding as also seen on 1871-CC, 1873-CC and 1874-CC.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the 2005 Public Auction of Coins and Paper Money, where it realized $40,250.