Carson City, Nevada 1870-1893, “CC” mint mark
The now legendary Carson City Mint was established to produce coinage needs from the major Nevada find of Gold and Silver from the Comstock Lode, the largest silver strike in the Nation’s history.
Before the Carson City Mint opened Silver and Gold ore mined in the Nevada territory had to be shipped across the Sacramento Mountains ??was to San Francisco for processing. The cost of shipping in mule drawn wagons combined with the risk of theft motivated Congress to approve the second Mint in the West.
The Carson City Mint was a branch of the United States Mint established in Carson City, Nevada to convert the massive Silver ore coming from the Comstock Lode and it also minted a variety of U.S. Gold Coins.
On February 11, 1870, “Seated Liberty Dollars” with the “CC” mintmark rolled off the solitary coin press. During its operation, the Carson City Branch issued 57 different types of gold coins and produced eight coin denominations, including dimes, twenty cent pieces, quarters, halves, Trade dollars, Morgan dollars, five dollar gold pieces, ten dollar gold pieces, and twenty dollar gold pieces.
Over the 21 years it was active, the Carson City Mint released 50 issues of silver coins and 57 issues of gold coins minted here between 1870 and 1893.
The Mint issued a variety of coins for collectors— eight coin denominations, including dimes, twenty cent pieces, quarters, halves, Trade dollars, Morgan dollars, five dollar gold pieces, ten dollar gold pieces, and twenty dollar gold pieces.
Every coin carried the “CC” mint mark the only U.S. Mint with double letters to distinguish these coins from the “C” Mint in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Morgan silver dollar was one of the most popular coins struck at the Carson City Mint. Nearly 2.8 million of the Morgan dollars were distributed in seven successive sales between 1972 and 1980 by the General Services Administration (GSA) in Washington, DC.
Coins struck at the Carson City Mint, especially Morgan Silver Dollars, are highly prized by collectors. Some dates of both Gold and Silver Coins are extremely rare and command a high premium among collectors.