The Carson City Mint: The Mint of the Wild American West

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Along the way - Old U.S. Mint, New Orleans (see link): http://www.flickr.com/photos/officiallouisiana/4720282674/in/photostream/

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Along the way - Old U.S. Mint, New Orleans (see link): http://www.flickr.com/photos/officiallouisiana/4720282674/in/photostream/

Supplement.

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U.S. Mint, viewed from the Mississippi River levee, c. (1905)

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Mines around Nevada were producing rich precious metal ore, difficult and dangerous to transport. It made sense to convert it into coins locally. Work on the Carson City mint started in 1866. In 1870, the mint started working, producing quarters, halves, dollars and gold. In 1876, production was at its largest, with almost 16 million coins, half of which dimes. After 1878, only silver dollars and gold was struck, on average around 1.5 million coins a year, mostly dollars. Mintage stopped in 1893 and the building was turned into an assay office. The office was closed in 1933 and the building abandoned.

In 1939, the government permitted the State of Nevada to turn the building into a State Museum. Bad timing. It took until the end of the second world war, before renovation and extension was completed. In 1941, visitor capacity was around 500 000, but there were only 1775 visitors. However, through private initiative and financing, the idea was saved. The map and picture date from around 1970. The museum is marked J, on Robinson and Curry.

The press (number 5) is a major exhibit. It was made in 1868 by Morgan and Orr. It started (silver dollar) production in Carson City in 1870 and went through a major revision by the Virginia & Truckee railroad shop in 1878. It was idle when the mint was closed in 1893, until it was shipped to the Philadelphia mint in 1899. Steam was replaced by electricity in 1930, giving the press a new lease of life. In 1945, it was moved to San Francisco to replace number 1, which was sold for scrap. It returned to Carson City in 1958 as a museum exhibit, but it is still capable of striking coins and medals. At some time after 1970, its number was fraudulently changed from 5 to 1, though.

Peter

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Quote:

"The tall smoke stack of the smelting furnace and the loading docks at the rear of the New Orleans Mint dominate this 1866 stereoview by Blessing. In 1838, shortly after the discovery of gold in the South, the New Orleans Mint opened its doors for business. Its convenient location near the Mississippi River made it easy to turn precious metal from southern mines, foreign ports, and later, California, into coinage for a growing nation.
The mint operated from 1838 to 1861 and 1879 until 1909, when it closed its doors for good. "

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Interesting engraving - Download tube battery using another accumulative tube.

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What is the function of this machine?

Peter

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What is the function of this machine?

Peter

Here is shown oversimplified press for coinage.

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The same variant of the tube-loading accumulator with another accumulative tube bead when disembarking on the edge of the coin blanks.

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Loading package blanks in a hand on the Royal Mint  (1946)

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Shown is the minting process from start to finish using the US governments #1 mint press built in 1869 and shipped in 1870 to the Carson City, Nevada Mint:

http://www.cheneycoinshop.com/photo.html