What is on the back of the John Parson's Colorado Pike's Peak Gold Coin?

Zoins

The Dr. John Parson's Pike's Peak territorial gold coin has one of the most interesting designs Does anyone know what machine this is?

It seems these coins were struck from the back of a traveling wagon. Could this be the minting press that was traveling on the wagon?

https://www.pcgs.com/cert/06574905

PerryHall

Looks like some kind of ore crusher.

taxmad

Stamping mill.

Zoins

@PerryHall said:
Looks like some kind of ore crusher.

Good info! They were called stamp mills:

https://raregoldnuggets.com/?p=5660

The Single Most Important Tool Used in the Gold Mines

Without stamp mills there would have been no way to recover gold from the hard rock mines.

A stamp is a metal that is moved up and down by a battering arm, pulverizing ores that are fed into it. They were mechanically operated machines that were used to crush ores by pounding till they extract the desired ore.

Gold pans and sluice boxes were necessary tools for the placer miner, but they were of little use in the large mines. Gold veins were locked up in rock, and ores needed to be grinded up to separate out the gold. While there have been other crude tools used to grind ore over the centuries, it was the use of the stamp mill that changed everything.

Zoins

@taxmad said:
Stamping mill.

Nice find. It looks like a cropped version from the article I linked.

I wonder if this one is still available to visit.

coinsarefun

Did not know this one existed and so freaking cool…….the coin and the background

taxmad

@Zoins said:

I wonder if this one is still available to visit.

There was a few on display in Carson City years ago. Sadly most that are easy to get to are going to be scavenged for scrap metal. Why leave history when you can get two cents a pound...

Goldminers

@taxmad said:

@Zoins said:

I wonder if this one is still available to visit.

There was a few on display in Carson City years ago. Sadly most that are easy to get to are going to be scavenged for scrap metal. Why leave history when you can get two cents a pound...

I think there are some in the yard along with a lot of other displays and equipment at The World Museum of Mining in Butte, Montana.

asheland

That's one heck of a coin! Very historic and couldn't look better for the grade!

Smudge

Not many of those around. Nice coin.

CaptainBlunt

The noted naturalist, assayer, jeweler, watchmaker Winslow J Howard had one of these coins in his collection. He was in the Colorado Territory at the time and probably pulled it from circulation or he might have even known Dr. John Parsons
Howard’s coin collection was sold by Lyman H Low in June of 1886..

Zoins

@CaptainBlunt said:
The noted naturalist, assayer, jeweler, watchmaker Winslow J Howard had one of these coins in his collection. He was in the Colorado Territory at the time and probably pulled it from circulation or he might have even known Dr. John Parsons Howard’s coin collection was sold by Lyman H Low in June of 1886.

Nice. The catalog by Lyman Haynes Low is available on Amazon. Is there any description of this coin in it?

https://www.amazon.com/Catalogue-medals-property-Winslow-Leather/dp/B07R175ZBC/

ricko

Nice coin and a good depiction of a stamping mill.... Gold mining was a tough way to go, but lucrative if the claim produced. Cheers, RickO

TurtleCat

You can see some stamping mills in Dahlonega Georgia as well. They have a large size one at the Crisson Gold Mine as you walk about their tour.

ChrisH821

There is also one in the Dahlonega Gold Museum. It's been years since I was there and had to refresh my memory but found this picture using google.

TurtleCat

@ChrisH821 said:
There is also one in the Dahlonega Gold Museum. It's been years since I was there and had to refresh my memory but found this picture using google.

Yep, and there’s a button you can press to get it going. I didn’t take a picture of it when I was there a couple of months ago.

kiyote

The McCormick Finger Crusher