Book Review: The Mint On Carson Street - By Rusty Goe

I was able to pick up a copy of the extremely hard to find "Mint on Carson Street" by Rusty Goe published in 2004, for a very fair price recently! They are usually selling in the $300-600 range now it seems. My copy is a paperback version, there is also a hardcover version that was printed. This book is my second by Rusty, he is quite the Carson City historian. The other volume I have by him is "James Crawford: Master of the Mint at Carson City: A Short Full Life" published in 2007.

The Mint on Carson Street A tribute to the Carson City Mint & a guide to a complete set of "CC" Coins.

This extensive volume is 536 pages long, it has 10 chapters, an introduction, epilogue, 6 appendices, a selected bibliography and a full index. There are 100's of illustrations and photographs throughout the book. I have never seen such a complete book on the history of the Carson City mint and it's employees published anywhere. The amount of copies of original documents and letters that have been unearthed is simply a tour de force of research.

Beginning on page 217 (Chapter Six) is a breakdown of each coin minted at the Carson City Mint by date and denomination. the author begins each denominational series with a short take on the set and listings of all pertinent information i.e.:
Total mintage
Total Face value
Total ounces of silver used in manufacture
Design types
Designers
Metal composition
Actual gross weight
Actual fine silver content
Value of silver in each denomination during it's lifespan at time of mintage

Then each date is further broken down, on at least a whole page, with a photo, a condition census for PCGS and NGC coins known, and a list of notable pedigrees.

Afterwards there is a Reflections section with particular news or history written about each date and denomination.

At the end of each denomination of series, the author will make some comparisons of the Carson City coins with the other Mints coins of the same design and dates.

Mr. Goe offers, a full population report of all known certified coins to the time of publishing, sections on varieties and pricing, as well as later history of the Mint as a modern museum today.

Another interesting idea the author brings up is how to collect Carson City coins in various collection ideas, some I would have not thought of.

All in all a very well researched and thoroughly enjoyable read, and possibly one of the greatest reference books I've ever seen (and I've seen and own a lot of reference books on coins).

For those of you that have never heard of Rusty Goe, here is are two short video clips on him at the Battle Born collection auction. Rusty Goe of Southgate Coins, has assisted collectors in building some of the finest sets of CC coins in history. The Battle Born Collection sold by Stack's Bowers Auctions represented all 111 Carson City coins, each an example of a coin struck every year with the CC mint mark. Many of these coins were in the finest condition known. This video you will hear why this collection was so important.





Hope you enjoyed my review of this wonderful book, and that you can acquire a copy yourself.