CARSON CITY CELEBRATES MINT'S 150TH ANNIVERSARY

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V23 2020 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 23, Number 6, February 9, 2020, Article 10

The Carson City Mint sesquicentennial celebration was held on February 4th, 2020. Visiting dignitaries including U.S. Mint Director David Ryder participated. Here's a short report and a couple photos courtesy David Elliott of Reno, NV. Thanks! -Editor

Reno Coin Club and president David Elliott celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Carson City Mint and Coin Press #1 with David Ryder, Director of the US mint. In addition to minting a new coin with Abe Curry, the mint, and the press, David Ryder signed all the newly minted coins and told us what is in store for the mint. Final approval from Treasury Department is waiting, but we will get a W nickel in all the mint sets this year. Remember the e-mail campaign I started last year to get that, so we will have all denominations with a W now. The 2 million W quarters will have a special countermark noting the 75th anniversary of WWII. There will also be a special set of commemorative coins for WWII in addition to the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower. Next year we will see the new Washington quarter with the crossing the Delaware reverse followed by 26 quarters featuring famous women. In 2026 there will be new reverse designs on all circulating quarters to celebrate our 250th anniversary followed by quarters focused on youth sports as a build up to the 2028 Olympics.

Here's an excerpt from a Nevada Appeal story about the event. -Editor

The Nevada State Museum demonstrated to the public on Tuesday that maintaining coinage mint will never go out of style in its sesquicentennial celebration of the Carson City Mint.

Gov. Steve Sisolak, Lt. Gov. Kate Marshall, U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, U.S. Mint Director David Ryder and other local dignitaries joined in the 150th anniversary that included opening remarks from Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell, a keynote address from Ryder, tours of the Mint building and first strikes of the sesquicentennial medallion on Coin Press No. 1.

Crowell opened the day with remarks along with Ryder, who rang a bell crafted by the W. T. Garratt Co. of San Francisco that was rung to mark the opening of the business day of the mint. Crowell then invited the public into the Mint building, which was opened by the museum for tours to witness strikes of the new medallion.

Myron Freedman, director of the Nevada State Museum, said Carson City holds a special historical significance by maintaining the original Mint with an original coin press.

The sesquicentennial celebration, planned by the museum staff for more than two years, included the issuance of a special medallion die sculpted by former U.S. Mint engraver Tom Rogers.

The Carson Mint originally operated between 1870 to 1893. It produced nearly $50 million in face value of gold and silver coins, including gold double eagles, or $20, and eagles, or $10, and half eagles, or $5, as well as silver dollars, half dollars, quarters, dimes and 20-cent pieces.

Jim Markle, a coin press operator playing an historical interpreter Tuesday, said Coin Press No. 1 made an arduous journey from Philadelphia to Carson City, routed through the East Coast and Panama by rail, wagon and ship, finally arriving in 1869. The Transcontinental Railroad wasn't fully formed at that time. The machine, the only of its kind for the first five years, produced 100 coins per minutes.

“I think one of the real stories is the women who worked on the machine,” he said. “They were the ones who made sure that everything fit in the machine, no matter whether it was gold or silver.”