The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 29, July 16, 2006, Article 25

CARSON CITY MINT COIN DIE CACHE EXAMINED

Coincidentally, the Carson City News reported just last week on
a number of tours offered by the the Nevada State Museum, and
one involves coin dies!

"The Archaeology of the Carson City Mint includes a look at old
coin dyes used to stamp the ?heads? and ?tails? of coins when
the museum building was The Carson City Mint between 1870-1893.
The dyes were found buried in the mud in the parking lot between
the two museum buildings and were excavated and restored to their
original condition."
Full Story

It's interesting to see the archaic spelling of "dye" rather
than the modern "die".  Can anyone fill us in on the discovery
of these dies?  Has anyone seen them?  What coins were they for?
A web search discovered these references to their 1999 discovery:

"While excavation was going on, some interesting remnants of the
site's past history appeared. In an area that had once contained
a storage building for the mint, Cassinelli's crew uncovered a
cache of extremely rusted mint dies."
Full Story

"An archaeological deposit containing hundreds of discarded coin
dies was discovered beneath the parking lot of the Nevada State
Museum, the former Carson City Mint. The high carbon steel dies
were annealed and canceled with one or more chisel blows across
the face of the die, and then thrown into a pit.

This buried deposit was seasonally wet and dry, and the majority
of the dies subject to post depositional corrosion that obliterated
traces of the original coins' designs. Some dies that lack details,
however, are attributable to die failure during the coining process.
Surprisingly, a few dies fared much better and the coins' details
were visible upon recovery or after cleaning.

Following some experimentation, methods for initial recovery,
cleaning, and stabilizing the dies were developed. These techniques
are applicable to other iron objects recovered from similar
environments."
Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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