Are there Leno City coins?

Don't get @jmlanzaf started. He hates Carson City for some reason but won't tell you why.

Dude! Just Google "carson city mint closure"... it's not that hard...

@jmlanzaf said:

@Morgan White said:
Don't get @jmlanzaf started. He hates Carson City for some reason but won't tell you why.

Not me. But if you mention Carson Daly, there's going to be trouble.

@Morgan White said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@Morgan White said:
Don't get @jmlanzaf started. He hates Carson City for some reason but won't tell you why.

Not me. But if you mention Carson Daly, there's going to be trouble.

You would be interested in some of the other lesser known mints like New Orleans "O", and Dahlonega "D" and Charlotte "C".. They obviously had to close Dahlonega in order to make room for and justify the D in Denver.

The silver market, and price, crashed in 1893.

Here's an answer to the OP's question that I doubt he will find online.

Railroads.

The Dahlonega and Charlotte Mints opened in 1838 when it was difficult to transport the output of the southern Appalachian gold fields to the Philadelphia Mint. By 1861 output was fading out AND the railroads had made transportation much easier, making those two Mints obsolete. Of course, once started many government projects carry on indefinitely, until somebody or some thing stops them.

The Comstock silver lode opened in 1859, at a time when that area had no easy freight connection to the outside world. The Carson City Mint should have opened much earlier than 1870, if only to provide finished coinage to the mining companies to pay their workers with, but I assume that the Civil War intervened. The year before it opened the Transcontinental Railroad opened, and I assume not too long after that a spur railroad connected the Transcontinental Railroad to the mining regions of Nevada. After that Nevada gold and silver could easily be transported to San Francisco.

I have an article in the pipeline at The Numismatist that will explain the heavy CC mintages of 1875 and 1876, and some of the problems that they caused.

After that the Bland-Allison Act kept it open for a while striking silver dollars and a little bit of gold, but it really was obsolete by 1878.

TD

Here's the deal................The Carson City Mint Press in action.

@TennesseeDave said:
The deal is that people just like them.

Fantastic coin.

@rooksmith said:

@TennesseeDave said:
The deal is that people just like them.

Notice the spacing between the C's . You can learn a lot just by observing

And what exactly are you observing regarding this mintmark?

There doesn't appear to be anything noticeable (other than the coin being a really nice example). And this specific reverse die is the most common reverse die for the date.

@lermish said:

@rooksmith said:

@TennesseeDave said:
The deal is that people just like them.

Notice the spacing between the C's . You can learn a lot just by observing

And what exactly are you observing regarding this mintmark?

There doesn't appear to be anything noticeable (other than the coin being a really nice example). And this specific reverse die is the most common reverse die for the date.

What I found interesting was in comparing the CC mint marks of different dates (in this thread!)

There are three different CC mintmarks varieties, depending on the date. the 1876 is a Medium CC (1873-1878) the spacing is wider than the CC on the 1889 (higher up in this thread....'

I am constantly learning new things from looking at the various coins that people are posting. I personally only have one CC Morgan, an 1879.

This mintmark looks very different than the others. I think it might be a capped, or repunched CC

---- FROM COPILOT AI :

The Carson City “CC” mintmark was produced with only a small handful of distinct punch styles, but the exact count depends on how finely you classify them. In mainstream numismatics, there are three primary CC mintmark varieties, while specialists sometimes break them into 5–7 sub‑varieties.

Below is the clear breakdown collectors use today:

Primary CC Mintmark Varieties (Widely Recognized)

1. Early Large CC (1870–1873)

• Big, wide letters
• Thick, heavy serifs
• Seen on early Seated Liberty coinage
• Very bold appearance

2. Medium CC (1873–1878)

• More compact than the early punch
• Cleaner, more refined serifs
• Used on later Seated Liberty and early Morgan dies

3. Small CC (1878–1893)

• Most common on Morgan dollars
• Narrower spacing
• Thinner letters
• This is the style most collectors picture when they think “CC”

These three are the standard varieties referenced in Red Book, PCGS, NGC, and most numismatic literature.

Specialist-Level Sub‑Varieties (Optional, 5–7 total)

Advanced die‑variety researchers (VAM collectors, Variety Vista, etc.) sometimes break CC punches into more granular categories, such as:

• Small CC – High placement
• Small CC – Low placement
• Tilted CC
• Large CC – Wide spread
• Repunched CC (RPD / RPM‑style)
• Micro‑variations in serif shape

These are die varieties, not official mintmark punches, so they expand the count depending on how deep you go.

@rooksmith said:

@lermish said:

@rooksmith said:

@TennesseeDave said:
The deal is that people just like them.

Notice the spacing between the C's . You can learn a lot just by observing

And what exactly are you observing regarding this mintmark?

There doesn't appear to be anything noticeable (other than the coin being a really nice example). And this specific reverse die is the most common reverse die for the date.

What I found interesting was in comparing the CC mint marks of different dates (in this thread!)

There are three different CC mintmarks varieties, depending on the date. the 1876 is a Medium CC (1873-1878) the spacing is wider than the CC on the 1889 (higher up in this thread....'

I am constantly learning new things from looking at the various coins that people are posting. I personally only have one CC Morgan, an 1879.

This mintmark looks very different than the others. I think it might be a capped, or repunched CC

---- FROM COPILOT AI :

Your analysis of trade dollar CC mintmarks and your AI slop are both incorrect.

I once put together a complete run of CC Silver Dollars, Seated Liberty, Trade and Morgan, from 1870-1893. It was fun project (not cheap, but fun!) You can view it by clicking on the link below my signature line.

1881-CC Morgan Dollar V. Ch. BU

@DDR said:
I once put together a complete run of CC Silver Dollars, Seated Liberty, Trade and Morgan, from 1870-1893. It was fun project (not cheap, but fun!) You can view it by clicking on the link below my signature line.

That is an absolutely fantastic registry set. Congrats on somehow being able to finish it all!