Nearly half a century after coinage operations stopped at the Mint on Carson Street, the facility began a new life. On October 31, 1941, 82 years ago this week, the Nevada State Museum opened in the building that once housed the Carson City Mint, the branch mint responsible for silver and gold coins bearing the distinctive CC mintmark always popular with today’s collectors.
The Carson City Mint opened in 1870 and produced a range of silver and gold denominations until 1885 when the facility was closed. It resumed coinage 1889 to 1893 when coinage production ceased. The facility retained its Mint status until 1899, when it was reclassified as an Assay Office, in which capacity it had been operating since 1895. It continued that function until 1933 and the building was sold to the State of Nevada in 1939. The Nevada State Museum opened two years later. It continues to operate in the former Mint facility.
