NSDR Journal
Vol. XVI No. 3
August 1999
Littleton’s Gigantic Georgia Dollar Deal: Largest CC Hoard Since GSA Cleared Treasury Vaults
News Release From Littleton Coin Comp.
The largest hoard of historic Carson City GSA silver dollars since the U.S. Treasury Department emptied its vaults in 1980 has been purchased by Littleton Coin Co. of Littleton, New Hampshire from a Georgia collector for nearly $900,000. It consists of 8,261 uncirculated CC dollars, all in their original General Services Administration (GSA) Sale holders, and stored for years in a former Southern bank building. “This may be the last great U.S. coin hoard of the 20th century. Almost every date in the Carson City dollar series is represented. We’re calling it ‘The Southern CC Cache,” said Littleton President David M. Sundman.
“The hoard includes an astounding 378 1885-CC Morgans, the lowest mintage in the Carson City dollar series,” he noted.
According to Sundman, the hoard was accumulated by an international business executive in Georgia. The man became interested in numismatics after receiving silver coins as payment for a business transaction.
“He liked the GSA Sale CC dollars because they came right from original U.S. Mint bags after being secluded for nearly a century in Treasury Department vaults. He subsequently stored all his coins in the vault of an old, former bank building in a small Georgia town,” Sundman revealed.
“Even if someone really tried to do it, I don’t think anyone could accumulate so many uncirculated GSA-Carson City dollars today,” said Littleton Chief Coin Buyer Jim Reardon. “The CC dollars are highly desirable and they sell quickly. These coins represent the Old West and the silver mined from Nevada’s famous Comstock Lode. Many collectors feel their U.S. collection is simply not complete without a CC dollar.” The huge Carson City dollar purchase is the latest in a series of major hoard acquisitions by Littleton in recent years, including last year’s enormous acquisition of 1.75 million coins from “The Midwest MegaHoard,” the largest known U.S. hoard. However, unlike last year, storage room for the thousands of CC dollars is not a problem Sundman and staff will face this time.
“There were so many bags of coins in the MegaHoard, we were forced to stack them up in various offices around our building. But we recently moved into a new office building with 65,000 square feet, more than double our last size, so now we have room for all these hoards. Bring ‘em on!” exclaimed Sundman. Littleton paid $895,000 to acquire the Southern CC Cache, with individual coins valued in the deal at between about $100 to more than $2,000 each. It required 80 boxes to house the hoard when it recently was shipped to Littleton. Representative examples of the hoard were displayed at the Littleton booth during the Central States Numismatic Society convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 23-25.
Mintage figures range from a high of 2.3 million in 1890 to a low of 228,000 in 1885. The quantity of GSA-CC dollars by date in the Littleton purchase are:
Year: Quantity: Year: Quantity:
1878 188 1883 2,010
1879 15 1884 3,527
1880 218 1885 378
1881 373 1890 2
1882 1,500 1891 50
After their 1964 discovery in U.S. Treasury vaults, sales of CC dollars were administered by the GSA in 1972- 1974 and again in 1980. Approximately 2.9 million coins were sold to the general public through the GSA sales. “This hoard of more than 82-hundred coins is the largest known hoard of CC dollars since they were dispersed by the Treasury Department and the GSA,” said Sundman.
“If you’ll recall, at the time of those sales in the 1970s there were strict limits on the number of coins an individual could purchase. So it is amazing that an individual collector eventually would acquire so many CC dollars. We’re delighted we were able to purchase them to offer to our customers.” For additional information, contact Littleton Coin Co., 1 Littleton Coin Place, 03561-3735.
Comments are closed