In June 2018, during the Second Session of the 115th Congress, Representative Mark Amodei (R-NV) introduced a bill calling for "the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the Carson City Mint 150th anniversary." The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives, and immediately referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
For context, the bill included a "Findings" section:
"The Congress finds the following:
(1) The Carson City Mint played an important role in the founding of the Great American West.
(2) Congress established the Carson City Mint in 1863 to serve the coinage needs brought on by the Comstock Lode during the silver rush in Nevada.
(3) The Carson City Mint was designed by Alfred Mullett, the supervising architect for the United States Department of the Treasury.
(4) The brick used to construct the Carson City Mint was manufactured at the Adams Brick Works in Genoa, operated by the grandsons of John Quincy Adams.
(5) The opening of the Carson City Mint was delayed due to the Civil War.
(6) The Carson City Mint opened in December of 1869, and produced its first coins on February 11, 1870.
(7) Coins struck at the Carson City Mint were distinguished by the "CC" mint mark.
(8) The Carson City Mint coined more than $49,000,000 of silver and gold.
(9) The Carson City Mint ended coin production in 1893, due to reduced mining of the Comstock Lode.
(10) The Carson City Mint is listed on the National Register of Historic Places."A two-coin program was proposed: Gold Half Eagle and Silver Dollar; up to 100,000 Half Eagles and up to 500,000 Silver Dollars. The two metal choices parallel the metal used by the Carson City Mint for its coinage - no Copper-Nickel (CuNi) Clad coins in the late 1800s!
The bill did not include specific design details; it simply stated broad design characteristics: "emblematic of the Carson City Mint building, its importance to Nevada and the Nation's history, and its 150th anniversary." Nothing in the bill suggested that the two coins were to share a common design - a good thing, IMO!
The Issue Price of each Gold Half Eagle was to carry a surcharge of $35; the price of each Silver Dollar was to include a $10 surcharge. Eligible collected surcharges were to be paid to the Nevada State Museum Dedicated Trust Fund "for the purpose of supporting the Nevada State Museum mission." (The Museum certainly was given wide latitude for deciding how to use the surcharge funds!)
The bill was not reported out of Committee, and was not considered further in the 115th Congress. Representative Amodei re-introduced his bill in the First Session of the 116th Congress (January 2019), but it followed the same path as his original effort and faded away due to lack of action. (Congress was more interested in the Morgan Dollar and Peace Dollar re-issues at the time.)
The Nevada State Museum did strike a commemorative silver medal on the original Carson City Branch Mint press that it owns to help mark the Carson City Mint's Sesquicentennial. So, interested collectors did have at least one option to mark the occasion!
The obverse of the medal depicts Coin Press #1 (the Museum-owned original Carson City Mint press); the reverse presents an image of the Carson City Mint building above a portrait of Abraham Curry, the Branch Mint's first Superintendent.
Myron Freedman, Director of the Nevada State Museum designed the medal;
Thomas D. Rogers Sr., retired US Mint Sculptor-Engraver, sculpted/modeled the medal from Freedman's designs. A limited number of the 30 mm medals were sold for $75 each immediately after commemorative ceremonies in February 2020; it was distributed in a custom-printed display card.
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more What If? stories from the Classic Era and Moder Era, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 04/03/2025 9:37 pm
I remember the discussion of this proposal on CCF back in the day. Personally I would've preferred this program to the basketball program we got in 2020. The Carson City Mint was more worthy of commemoration.
