 1870'CC' No Drapery. Extremely Fine from a technical standpoint, but the right obverse field has been smoothed to remove some scratches, and the entire coin has been harshly cleaned. The workmanship is not all that bad as such things go, and given the rarity of this issue, the present coin would make a worthy acquisition for an album collector. The surfaces are slightly rough from the past cleaning, possibly done to help mask the smoothing process in the field. Finding a high grade example of this date is quite a challenge for most collectors.
Why is this date so rare and popular? First off, the Carson City Mint began coinage in 1870, closing for a time beginning in 1885, then reopening in 1889 and closing again in 1893. President Grover Cleveland felt the Carson City Mint was redundant with the San Francisco Mint close by, and closed the Carson City Mint when he came to office in 1885. When Cleveland lost the Presidency in 1889 the Carson City Mint was reborn and coinage resumed. Cleveland was reelected in 1893 and again promptly closed the Carson City Mint. This time coinage did not resume from this branch mint after Cleveland completed his presidency.
During 1870 the Carson City Mint produced a total of 54,617 Half Dollars, a trifle compared with most other issues of the period. Demand for coinage was very high as the Western economy was riding a huge economic wave of expansion while the East recovered from the disastrous Civil War. These Half Dollars circulated hard, and most show substantial wear. While not the most perfect example, the present coin retains most of the original detail, and would make an affordable alternative to a lower grade example.
Ex Nate Smith Collection (Stack's, March 1973, lot 945).
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