Q. David Bowers
Finis to the Mint
The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint 1893, told of the end of coinage at the Carson City Mint:
"By direction of the secretary of the Treasury coinage operations at the mint at Carson City were suspended on June 1, 1893, and the force employed in the coiner's department dispensed with. A corresponding reduction was also made in other departments of the mint.
"The business of the Carson mint is now conducted on the same basis as that of the assay office at New York; depositors of gold receiving payment either in coin or fine bars, as preferred, and of silver, in unparted or fine bars. Until the repeal of the purchasing clause of the Act of July 14, 1890, depositors of silver at the Carson City Mint could sell their silver to the government and receive payment therefor over the counter in the Treasury notes or by draft on the assistant treasurer of the United States at San Francisco or New York, payable in Treasury notes.
"The mint at Carson City being of limited capacity, and the amount of gold deposited and silver purchased there being small as compared with the amount of gold deposited and silver purchased at the San Francisco Mint, which possesses a large coinage capacity, the expenses for coinage were much greater at Carson than at San Francisco.
"The gold deposited at the mint at Carson City can be transported to the mint at San Francisco and converted into coin without any additional appropriation either for labor or contingent expenses. The heavy outlay for coinage at the former and the accumulation of an amount of gold coin at a point where it is not required for use may be thus avoided.
"Upon the suspension of coinage operations at the Carson Mint the presses and other machinery used in the coinage department were painted and leaded under the supervision of Mr. Charles H. Colburn, the retiring coiner, to prevent corrosion.' At the close of the fiscal year 1893 the bullion, coin and other moneys with which the superintendent was charged was weighed and counted by Messrs. W.E. Morgan and A.A. Hassan, of the Bureau of the Mint, and the amount found to be correct."
1893-CC Dollars Assayed
On February 14, 1894 the assay commission met at Philadelphia. Among the coins considered for assay were 339 1893-CC silver dollars.
Heaton On Collecting Carson City Dollars
In his study, A Treatise on the Coinage of the United States Branch Mints, 1893, Augustus G. Heaton commented as follows:
"1893 has a medium CC over the space between D and O[of DOLLAR]. The first C is higher than the second. However, in the Carson City dollars from 1878 to '93 the differences are so trivial that. .. we will leave further study of the millions of pieces [sic] annually issued to individual pleasure, assured that very few will burden their drawers [in coin cabinets] with more than a specimen of each mintmark date."
Later Carson City Reports
The Carson City facility continued to be mentioned in the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint. Selected excerpts follow from the fiscal years indicated:
1896. The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, 1896, gave a multi-page detailed report on a theft from the Carson City Mint. The situation was so important that, according to the report: "Owing to the investigation and trials of the persons charged with the embezzlement of gold bullion from the melter and refiner's department, the refinery has not been operated during the year, and the business of this mint was limited to the receipt of gold deposits only." The matter ended as follows: 'John T. Jones, assistant melter and refiner, and James Heany, silver dissolver, have been convicted and sentenced to a term of eight years' imprisonment and to pay a fine of $5,000."
1897. Report of silver dollar storage and distribution. In mint July 1, 1896, 5,137,118; total, 5,137,118; in mint July 1, 1897,5,096,125; distributed from mint 40,993.
1898. Report of silver dollar storage and distribution. In mint July 1, 1897, 5,096,125; total, 5,096,125; in mint July 1, 1898, 5,039,437; total, 5,039,437; distributed from mint, 56,688.
A review of history in the same issue noted that coinage at Carson City was suspended on March 28, 1885. On November 6, 1885 it was directed that the mint be closed. The facility remained closed to the receipt of deposits until October 1, 1887, when it was reopened. On October 1, 1889 coinage was resumed, which continued through May 1893, "though at times the supply of bullion was difficult to obtain, as the amount of deposits was small, and both refinery and coinage operations were restricted. It was necessary on two or three occasions to furlough a large number of the force. The coiner was removed, to take effect July 1, 1893, for want of occupation."
1899: Silver dollar storage and distribution: In mint July 1, 1898, 5,039,437; total, 5,039,437; in mint, July 1, 1899, 5,008,552; total, 5,008,552; distributed from mint, 30,885.
In this same year, coinage presses from Carson City were shipped to other mints. The change in status of the Carson City Mint and Assay Office was effective July 1, 1899.
1900: Silver dollar storage and distribution: In mint July 1, 1899, 5,008,552; total, 5,008,552; transferred from the mint to Treasury, 5,000,000;1 in mint July 1, 1900,7,047; total, 5,007,047; distributed from mint, 1,505. It is especially significant to note that five million Carson City dollars were transferred during the above period indicated.
1901: Silver dollar storage and distribution: In the mint July 1, 1900, 7,047; total, 7,047; distributed from mint, 7,047. The Carson City Mint distributed the 7,047 dollars on hand at the beginning of the fiscal year. At the end of the fiscal year it was left with a balance of no silver dollars.
1903: A note advised readers that from its beginning in 1870 to its discontinuation in 1893, the Carson City Mint struck 13,881,329 silver dollars and 4,211,400 trade dollars.