Jeff Ambio: All 1872-CC silver dollars were struck from Reverse C of the 1870-CC issue with a widely spaced CC mintmark. There is a short, sharp die line protruding from the denticle below the left base of the letter L in DOL.

Rusty Goe: Miners in Spanish-speaking countries referred to a rich strike of mineral ore as a "bonanza." Ever since 1859 in a region known as the "Washoe Diggings," or the "Comstock," in what eventually became Nevada, many people had used the term bonanza to describe the bullion that miners had extracted in the location. These mini-bonanzas discovered between 1859 and 1863 had precipitated the legislation that birthed the Carson City Mint. At the beginning of that coin factory's third year, in January 1872, underlying forces were taking shape that within two years would necessitate an expanded definition of the word bonanza, or at least serve as a catalyst for observers to use a capital "B" when referring to it.

Four Irishmen, led by John W. Mackay and James G. Fair, had taken a gamble and quietly bought enough shares in a new firm, formed by a merger of several Comstock mining companies, to give them a controlling interest. At a stockholders' meeting of the Consolidated Virginia on January 11, 1872, the syndicate laid out a plan to develop their new mining operation. A year later, news of the firm's "Big Bonanza" grabbed headlines across the nation, eventually reaching around the globe.

Although not as prodigious as the ores discovered at Potosi, Bolivia or on Mexico's La Faja de Plata, the Comstock's Big Bonanza is considered the richest silver strike in U.S. history (it also produced large quantities of gold). The stock trading that it generated involved millions of dollars more in money exchanged than the aggregate value of all the ore it produced. If a person had bought 100 of the original 11,600 shares of the Con. Virginia issued at the low price of $1 in 1870, he would have become a millionaire if he had sold at the peak in January 1875. Many speculators of course lost money during the Big Bonanza's heyday.

As mining operators and investors made and lost fortunes on the Comstock, the Carson Mint stood by conveniently located to receive its benefits from the phenomenon happening about 15 miles away in Virginia City. Superintendent Rice and his employees saw an even greater increase in bullion deposits in 1872 than their mint had received in the hugely successful year before. Rice wrote to Director of the Mint James Pollock in fall 1872 that developments in the Consolidated Virginia's operation had inspired holders of smaller claims for which work had been suspended to resume operations. "Some are already showing veins of pay matter," wrote Rice.

Typically, depositors would deliver 30,000, 40,000, or even 50,000 ounces of bullion to the Carson Mint in a single day. The success of the bullion fund Rice had requested in his first two months in office in late 1870 had made a world of difference. It enabled the mint "to make returns to depositors within 24 hours after delivery and deposit," announced Carson City's Daily State Register on July 2, 1872.

In those days, prior to political and business maneuverings that would reroute Comstock bullion to San Francisco, the advantages of having the Carson Mint nearby resonated with Comstock miners, who routinely channeled their ore to it. The Carson branch even received outsourced work from San Francisco. On August 8, 1872, the Daily State Register reported that the San Francisco Mint had sent 800 ounces of silver to Carson City for coinage. The local columnist wrote: "To send precious metals to Carson to be put into dollars and half dollars seems rather strange, as the Bay city has one of the best Branch Mints in the United States." Yet he stated, "it is ... the fact that a great amount of gold and silver comes from California to the Carson Mint for refining and coinage."

It is important to note that at that time, in 1872, in Director of the Mint James Pollock's words, "The work is progressing rapidly, and, with the energy already exhibited, [the new San Francisco Mint] building will soon be ready for occupation." Since 1869, Pollock had pushed for the construction of a new mint in San Francisco to replace the smaller facility on Commercial Street. The increased load of deposits from the Comstock during the 1860s had not only made the old building "wholly unfitted," wrote Pollock, "but unsafe and unworthy of the great mineral wealth of the Pacific States." The new mint in San Francisco would not open until fall 1874. During its construction, especially between 1871 and 1874, it's possible that the Carson branch served as an auxiliary for coinage and refinery work to offset some of the burden on the minters in San Francisco.

Half dollars and gold double eagles, and to a lesser degree dimes, quarters, half eagles, and eagles occupied most of the Carson Mint's coining department's activities in 1872. Silver dollar deliveries came in two light loads: 2,150 in the first half of the year, and just 1,000 in the second half. Those 3,150 1872-CC silver dollars produced contrast dramatically with the record output of slightly more than 1.1 million at the Philadelphia Mint. The San Francisco branch coined 9,000 pieces that year.

The 1872-CC Liberty Seated dollar has followed the pattern of relatively high survival rates established by all four dates in this Carson Mint subset. Possibly eight to ten percent of the original mintage remains with us today. According to the combined population figures of PCGS and NGC, as many as 25 examples exist in Mint State condition, a number that seems misrepresented. Auction appearances over the years simply do not support that tally.

Q. David Bowers: Repeating a standard scenario, the 1872-CC dollars were routinely released into local and regional commerce. Probably some were shipped to China, where there was a great appetite for silver metal. Rusty Goe estimates that 250 to 300 exist today in all grades, with 65 to 85 in EF to AU and only 16 to 19 in Mint State. Although the latter figure seems somewhat generous at first blush, finding one in choice or Gem Mint State is another matter. Such are extreme rarities.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the August 2018 Philadelphia ANA Auction, where it realized $22,800.