Celebrating the Carson City Mint

September 29 is National Carson Day, and there’s one particular “Carson” that looms large in American numismatics – the Carson City Mint. As so many numismatists know, the Carson City Mint has an air of mystique and romance about it. It may be due to the fact that it arose from the quaint Nevada burg of Carson City, smack dab in the middle of the Wild West, during the exciting days of the silver rush. The Carson City Mint, which was created in 1863 and operated from 1870 through 1893 (with a hiatus from 1886 through 1888), was a mecca of gold and silver coin production in the heyday of the westward expansion.

It’s not hard for some collectors to hold one of these old Carson City-minted coins in their hands and wonder where the coin spent its time in circulation. Did that coin pay for a drink at a saloon? A horse and buggy? Was it heisted in a train holdup?

There are so many Carson City coins for collectors to choose from, ranging from dimes to double eagles. Of these many denominations, the one perhaps most widely collected is the silver dollar, with the Morgan Dollar the most notable of these widely popular Carson City coins. And the Carson City Morgan Dollar collector is in good company, as many people collect Morgan Dollars from the Carson City Mint – either as part of a larger collection of Morgan Dollars or in collections of only CC-mint silver dollars.

In fact, there are two terrific CC Morgan Dollar sets that dozens of collectors enjoy building, including the Morgan Dollars GSA Hoard Basic Set, Circulation Strikes (1878-1891) and Morgan Dollars GSA Hoard with Major Varieties, Circulation Strikes (1878-1891). GSA Hoard refers to the General Services Administration, which during the 1970s sold millions of Carson City Morgan Dollars once held in government vaults to the general public. The GSA CC Morgan Dollars have a huge collector following all their own and represent an important subset of the larger Morgan Dollar series.

Of course, there are a myriad of different sets a collector could assemble to represent the magnificent Carson City Mint output. But whichever avenue these collectors pursue, there really is no wrong way to honor this most celebrated of numismatic “Carsons.”