Mystery Coin of The Carson City Mint #6

Mystery Coin #6

1.I am a silver coin.

2.I have 199 siblings.

3.My obverse was made with a 1884 die.

4.My reverse was made with a 1878 die.

5.I benefited the Carson City Museum.

6.X marks the spot.

7.Grass Valley, CA is familiar to me.

8.Parking lot is respopnsible for my existence.

9.I am a serious "eye candy" for collectors of Carson City coins.

10.If you guess who am I, you will receive my image.



John Armonas

John,

Are we getting close?

Question:

Did the Carson City Mint strike a two-ounce silver coin between 1870 and 1893?

The story that I was told is as follows, when the new parking lot was built for the museum two cancelled dies were found in the ground. The
museum decided to make restrikes as a fundraiser and sold these "coins"
in the gift shop.These "coins" were produced privately for the museum in Grass Valley, Ca. Why press #1 was not used? About 200 "coins" were struck on 2 oz. silver planchets and a few on copper octogon shaped.

Also,the museum raffled off a 20 oz silver bar struck with four cancelled dies as a grand prize.

The restrikes are quite interesting. Does anyone know of any published articles about these "coins"?

To answer Rusty's question: 2 oz silver coins were not made at The Carson City Mint.

John Armonas

I did some research on this. It is a 2 ounce silver restrike using cancelled 1884-CC and 1878-CC dies. The coin was created as a fund raiser and sold in the Carson City Mint gift shop at about $60 each. The obverse was created by using Die #38. The dies, I understand are still on display at the Nevade State Museum inside the Mint building.

I am not sure what the reference is to Grass Valley, CA, except that it is in Nevada County on the Nevada border and Nevada City is nearby. It is also the site if the Empire Mine, one of the richest minse during the California Gold Rush. Maybe that is where the silver came from?

If anyone knows the connection, that person should get the prize.

Don Schmitz, owner of the Nevada City Mint in Grass Valley, CA, operated old coin press No. 1 at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, NV on a limited-volunteer basis from 1977 to 2001.

Mr. Schmitz struck the 2-ounce silver impressions of the canceled die 1884-CC and 1878-CC dollars at his mint in Grass Valley in the late 1990s.

Now this is interesting stuff! Kudos to all. Cool!

mcfly