The government produced millions of these large silver dollar coins in response to political pressure from the West to utilize newly mined silver. The market for silver was poor, so the government was persuaded to buy quantities of silver that was coined into silver dollars but never released into circulation. Millions of these silver dollars remained in Treasury vaults until the early 1960 s when they were released to the public. Therefore, an Uncirculated 1885-CC dollar is readily available today. Consequently, only 5,000 to 7,000 coins exist in Mint State quality.
Demand is one of the most important determinants of a coin s value.
Unless someone wants a coin, it is worth only its face value or its intrinsic precious metal value. Different series among U.S. coins are collected with varying degrees of interest. There are many thousands of these in existence. On the other hand, a merchant token issued by the predecessor to today Macy s department store is very rare, with less than 100 known. Demand and popularity tend to change over time.