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For those of you who are not yet sick of all my Nevada historical items...
GoldenEyeNumismatics
Posts: 13,187 ✭✭✭
A couple more ebay items--one that I won and won that I didn't.
There a great pair of real photo post cards. Both were boomtowns those rose and faded pretty quickly. Lee Jellum had taken a number of photos of the Seven Troughs Mining District in Nevada, a couple of his best photos made it into the "Nevada Post Card Album" by Robert Greenwood, including a couple pictures of Vernon. Vernon peaked around 1908, and had the only secure bank vault in the Seven Troughs district. The town never became too large though.
Chaffey was also a great mining town. Originally settled in 1862 under the name Dun Glen, it had a number of producing mines until 1894, when the town dissipated. A few of the properties went out on lease, but little mining occured until 1908 when it was revived under the new name "Chaffey."
the one I didn't win
the one that I won
There a great pair of real photo post cards. Both were boomtowns those rose and faded pretty quickly. Lee Jellum had taken a number of photos of the Seven Troughs Mining District in Nevada, a couple of his best photos made it into the "Nevada Post Card Album" by Robert Greenwood, including a couple pictures of Vernon. Vernon peaked around 1908, and had the only secure bank vault in the Seven Troughs district. The town never became too large though.
Chaffey was also a great mining town. Originally settled in 1862 under the name Dun Glen, it had a number of producing mines until 1894, when the town dissipated. A few of the properties went out on lease, but little mining occured until 1908 when it was revived under the new name "Chaffey."
the one I didn't win
the one that I won
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It's interesting--the medallions state the first coins were struck February 11, but there are numerous other sources that say Feb 10, and some that say Feb 9. It's an area that needs more research.
<< <i>It's interesting--the medallions state the first coins were struck February 11, but there are numerous other sources that say Feb 10, and some that say Feb 9. It's an area that needs more research. >>
Granite from the prison stone quarry. Pict style of architecture. Portico, Ionic. Hall, twelve feet in width; main hall 12x40; on the right of the entrance. Paying Teller's office, 13x16 feet. Coining room, 19x19. Spiral staircase conducts above. Whitening room, 10x14 1/2, with a vault in solid masonry 5x6. Annealing furnace and rolling room, 17x24. Gold and silver melting room, 10x24. Melters and refiners' office, 12x19 feet. Deposit melting room, 14 1/2x19. Deposit weighing room, 19x19, with a strong vault 6 1/2x10 1/2 feet. Treasurer's office, 13x16, with a vault five feet square. Engine room, 16 1/2x53 feet. Beside which there is a cabinet, adjusting room, ladies' dressing room, humid assay room, assayer's office, assayer's room, watchman's room, two store-rooms, attic, basement. As a preventive against fire the floors are double, with an inch of mortar between. The foundations are seven feet below the basement floor and laid in concrete. Building two and a half stories high.
The machinery for the mint arrived November 22, 1868. The mint has a front of ninety feet on Carson Street.
November 1, 1869. The machinery of the mint was put in motion in the afternoon.
This came from "History of Nevada" by Thompson & West, date 1881. In order to find an accurate date of the first minting we must go back as far as can be researched. This is the furthest
back that I've gone yet.
We do know that Abe Curry, the first Superintendent of the mint, had the dies of 1869. We know that his machinery was up and running. It's not hard to imagine that in preparations of
minting for "real" he practiced setting up and adjusting his equipment. I'll bet he struck many 1869 dollar coins. None have ever shown up and I doubt any will. He'd be very careful to make
sure that they got back into the melting pot. However, the same has got to be said for the dies of 1870. I'm one that says he began minting in December, at least as test runs in the same
preparation of releasing them to the public. Remember, the OK had to come from the east and he had plenty of time to practice his trade.
Any kid in a sandbox is going to play with the sand!
The key would be proving when the dies actually arrived in CC. There could have been more that one shipment of dies as well.
Fun to surmise.
bob
PS: love the postcards and sorry I got OT
Is it a typo when you say the machinary arrived Nov 22 but the equipment was set in motion Nov 1? Did you mean Dec 1? From what I've gathered only the press arrived Nov 22, no mention to the other machinary.
It's almost certain that the machinary would have been tested prior to any coins actually being struck, but I doubt any coins dated 1869 were struck. Although Curry wasn't the most frugal and caring-for-the-records type of guy, I'd be surprised if he struck coins bearing the date 1869 and did not record it. It's possible though, that some 1869 coins were struck but included in 1870 mintages.
However, the CC Mint would need to have an order placed for coins before they could strike any (except in the case of the ceremonial first-struck coins). The first order I'm aware of was that of Mr. A Wright, placed February 1870.
Although it's possible some coins dated 1869 did make it out, then how is the first CC dollar, dated 1870, really the first CC Dollar?
Food for thought. What I'm mainly trying to get at is that there may have been coins struck in 1869 (although I do not believe there were any), but it is likely that if there were any coins struck that year, they bore the date 1870.
If it were my new toy, I'd have certainly tested it out. Boy, having the equipment
laying around for a bit more than a year without ever doing anything with it would
have driven me nuts. Especially since the dies dated 1869 were in his possession.
You just don't fire that press up and beging striking the beauties that they made.
It took lots of practice to align the dies and adjust the strike to get them right.
I agree that the first publicly available dollars were delivered to the bank as you described.
The presentation pieces were the ones struck in 1869, and dated 1870. Now, how do
I back this statement up. That, my friend. is very hard to do. I do have an interview
(published in the Reno Evening Gazette) of Louise Blakeslee, daughter of Marcella
and Matt Rinckel, who indicated that she saw Abe Curry give her mother "the first silver
dollar" ever struck in the CC mint and that was before Christmas in December of 1869. How
the dies could have arrived before Rusty's date, I don't know. Perhaps Rusty's date is
an estimate or incorrect. If only the receipts were available to view!
Track it down Will,,,,,do the search and if I can help, I'd be happy to accomodate!
bob
Wouldn't surprise me in Goe was wrong, it happens a number of other times in the book (a lot of it pertaining to the discoveries of gold and silver at the budding Comstock Lode)
CARSON MINT.
We do know that Abe Curry, the first Superintendent of the mint, had the dies of 1869. We know that his machinery was up and running. It's not hard to imagine that in preparations of
minting for "real" he practiced setting up and adjusting his equipment. I'll bet he struck many 1869 dollar coins. None have ever shown up and I doubt any will. He'd be very careful to make
sure that they got back into the melting pot. However, the same has got to be said for the dies of 1870. I'm one that says he began minting in December, at least as test runs in the same
preparation of releasing them to the public. Remember, the OK had to come from the east and he had plenty of time to practice his trade.
Any kid in a sandbox is going to play with the sand!
The key would be proving when the dies actually arrived in CC. There could have been more that one shipment of dies as well.
Some archival data:
1) On December 20, 1869, Curry wrote Mint Director Pollock indicating that he had the 1869
dies on hand, but not those for 1870. He asked permission to begin coinage operations in January
1870 with the 1869 dies. Pollock refused permission and indicated that out-of-date dies could not
be used. The 1870 dies were not received until after January 1.
2) On October 20, 1869, Curry acknowledged receiving a box of dies, including those for a silver dollar.
The letter says "duplicate" dies, which appears to mean that others had been delivered earlier. (The
instructions from Curry as to the precise size of the dies had been sent to Philadlephia on September 10.)
3) The first delivery of coins was made on February 10, 1870, but mint records do not indicate if they were
all struck that day (which is probable) or if coinage began the preceding day.
4) The die record book of 1844-1925, which was kept in the engraving department, appears to have been
destroyed by order of Eva Adams in 1964 so that "counterfeiters" could not use it. If this had not been destroyed
we would have much better data on the Carson City dies.
Denga
<< <i>Interesting history.... great research so far... wonder what happened to that 'first coin struck'... Keep digging guys, this is good stuff. Cheers, RickO >>
It still exists, and with proof. I've seen pics straight from the fellow who owns it.
yours has a much finer and more interesting view.
thanks for sharing.