Museum coin press to hold special minting during Nevada Day
Nevada Day revelers can own a piece of the state’s history — and also watch it be made — as part of a special run of the coin press at he Nevada State Museum in Carson City.
In honor of the opening of the new Battle Born Hall inside the state Capitol, the coin press will be minting its newest medallion featuring the Battle Born logo 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27. Admission to the museum will also be free that day.
Those interested can watch the historic press operate, even buy a medallion of their own.
Enthusiasts can purchase blank planchets, made from .999 fine silver, from the gift shop and have the half-dollar-sized medallion minted on Press No. 1.
“It’s a lot of fun for visitors,” said Myron Freedman, director of the Nevada State Museum, which occupies the former U.S. Mint building. “This has been extremely popular.”
Proceeds support the museum and the coin press, which is approaching 150 years in Carson City.
While the coin press arrived in U.S. Mint in Carson City in December of 1868, it took more than a year for the dies to arrive from Philadelphia to make it operable.
The first coin was struck in February of 1870, a Seated Liberty silver dollar with a crisp CC mint mark.
Every coin minted since then has borne the same mark.
“It ties it to the heritage of the United States Mint being here in Carson City, going back to 1870,” Freedman said.
Between 1870 and 1893, the Carson City Mint produced nearly $50 million (face value) of gold and silver coins, including gold double eagles ($20) and eagles ($10), half eagles ($5), silver dollars, half dollars, quarters, dimes and 20-cent pieces.
Today, coins with the CC Mint mark are highly prized by collectors and among the most valuable in the collecting world. An 1873 Carson City dime with no arrows – the only one of its kind known to still exist – sold at auction for $1.8 million in 2012.
A special minting will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 15 in recognition of the coin press’ 150th birthday. That will be in addition to the regularly scheduled run on the last Friday of each month.
“It phenomenal,” Freedman said. “There’s nothing like it in the world. It’s 150 years old and still in operation. Even more, it’s doing it in the building it first started in. It’s a very unique situation.”
The museum will also host a sesquicentennial celebration of the mint in 2020 to commemorate 150 years of operation.
The Nevada State Museum is located at 400 N. Carson St., in Carson City. It is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admissions is $8 for adults; free for children 17 and younger.
- Carson City
- Carson City Mint
- 2020
- adults
- Auction
- battle born
- Birthday
- Capitol
- carson
- CC
- celebration
- children
- City
- Community
- day
- december
- eagles
- February
- Free
- FRIDAY
- fun
- gift
- gold
- Heritage
- historic
- liberty
- mint
- museum
- Nevada
- Nevada Day
- Nevada State Museum
- new
- opening
- Recognition
- run
- saturday
- silver
- state
- state Capitol
- struck
- Support
- The Nevada State Museum
- U
- United States
- Coin press
- coins
- history