Museum’s Mint 150th anniversary events continue Saturday

The Nevada State Museum continues its months-long celebration leading up to the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Carson City U.S. Branch Mint with lectures and other special events in March.

Recognizing March is also Women’s History Month, the museum is presenting the lecture “Women Workers of the Carson City U.S. Mint,” as its March “Mint150” event. The museum’s curator of history, Bob Nylen, will present the lecture at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Nylen will discuss the various women who worked at the Mint from 1870 when it opened and until the building stopped being a U.S. Assay office in 1930.

Immediately following Nylen’s lecture, the museum’s historic Coin Press No. 1 will begin minting medallions depicting the “Merci Train,” the gift-filled boxcar that was sent by France as a “thank you” in the aftermath of World War II. The minting will run from noon to 4 p.m.

The public can purchase blank silver planchettes in the museum store and have them minted on the coin press.

At 2 p.m., Curator of Education Mina Stafford will give a short presentation commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first airplane flight over the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

In 1919, the U.S. Army Air Service sent four airplanes to fly from Mather Field in California to Reno. On the return flight Nevada Gov. Emmett Boyle became the first airplane passenger to fly over the Sierra.

Admission is $8 for adults; free for museum members and children 17 and younger.

The Carson City mint opened Jan. 6, 1870. Between its opening and its closure in 1893, the Carson City Mint produced nearly $50 million (face value) of gold and silver coins. Today, coins with the famous “CC” mint mark are highly coveted by collectors and among the most valuable in the coin-collecting world.

Coin Press No. 1 is the only one of its kind in existence that’s still operational in its original building (the Nevada State Museum occupies the former Mint).