The History of Coin Press Number One: Carson City Mint's Most Important Artifact

Coin Press Number One arrived at the Carson City Branch Mint in late 1869 and struck its first coin in February 1870. Over the next 155 years it traveled coast to coast, survived a near-scrapping in San Francisco, produced 118 million coins during a national coin shortage, and returned home to Nevada — where it still strikes CC mintmark commemorative medals today at the Nevada State Museum. For its first five years, Press Number One was the only press at the Carson City Mint, producing up to 120 coins per minute under steam power. After a crack in 1878, a Virginia and Truckee Railroad machinist repaired it and swapped its nameplate — a change that decades later let a newspaper editor identify the press and save it from being scrapped in San Francisco in 1955. The Nevada State Museum brought it home in 1958. In 1964, Mint Director Eva Adams borrowed the nearly century-old press to help ease a national coin shortage, and it struck 118 million coins in Denver before returning to Carson City for good. Since 1976, it has operated at the museum, still striking CC-marked medals today. 0:00 Coin Press Number One: The First Strike at Carson City 0:21 The Only Press for Five Years 0:38 The 1878 Crack and the Virginia & Truckee Railroad Repair 1:06 The Nameplate Swap: Morgan Replaced by the Railroad 1:22 The Blessing in Disguise: How the Nameplate Saved the Press 1:45 From Carson City to Philadelphia to San Francisco 2:27 Saved from Scrap by a Newspaper Editor 2:53 Return to the Nevada State Museum 3:08 Eva Adams, the 1964 Coin Shortage, and 118 Million Coins at Denver 3:47 Rebuilt for the Bicentennial 3:57 Striking CC Mintmark Medals Since 1976 4:13 A Century and a Half of Service ―――――――――――― 📬 GET OUR FREE CATALOG Request a free GOVMINT catalog and get new releases delivered to your door: https://www.govmint.com/catalog-request 📚 LEARN MORE Explore our Learn section for more coin history, mint guides, and collecting tips: https://www.govmint.com/learn 🪙 SHOP US COINS https://www.govmint.com/us-coins ―――――――――――― 🔔 Subscribe for weekly coin history, exclusive features, mint guides, and collecting content:    / govmint   #CarsonCityMint #CCMintmark #CoinHistory #CoinCollecting #Numismatics #GOVMINT