In the unlikely event you should find yourself in possession of a U.S. coin stamped "CC," you are holding some of the Carson City Mint’s handiwork. Authorized by Congress in March, 1863 (to take advantage of local gold and silver mines), the Carson City Mint didn’t actually begin coining until Feb. 11, 1870. Construction had proceeded slowly and the first coining machine, a six-ton brute, had to be shipped clear across the continent from Philadelphia. Used mainly for large-denomination coins (like the Morgan dollars produced there from 1878 onward), the Carson City Mint operated until 1885. After a four-year hiatus, it resumed production from 1889 to 1893. Six years later, the idle coining machines were removed and shipped back to Philadelphia. Press No. 1 would later take another cross-country trip, to the San Francisco Mint, where it pressed coins from 1945 to 1955.
(Press No. 1 bore a plate reading "V&T," the logo of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, which performed some repairs on the machine.)
At that point, Press No. 1 was destined for the scrap heap, but was spotted by a Mint worker who sounded the alarm. Judge Clark Guild intervened and helped scrape together the $225 needed to bring Press No. 1 home to Nevada in 1958. It seemed that the rest of Press No. 1’s existence would be that of a popular museum attraction. However, the Denver Mint had difficulty meeting its production quota in 1964, so good old Press No. 1 went to the Rocky Mountain State, where it had pressed another 188,000,000 coins by 1967.
After the U.S. Mint returned No. 1 to Carson City, the machine was used to strike off commemorative coins, including a series for the U.S. bicentennial in 1976. It’s still capable of production, well into its second century of service to the U.S. government and the State of Nevada, for which it recently produced a set of commemorative medallions to celebrate the state's 150th birthday. As for the Mint building, it was the U.S. Assay Office from 1895 to 1933, before being sold to Nevada in 1939. It subsequently became home the Nevada State Museum.
