Coin Press Number 1

Here is a media picture of Coin Press Number 1 and ongoing discussion.

www.vamworld.com/message/view/home/16281677

This is how the press #1 looked during my visit to the Nevada State Museum in the fall of 2008. The press is green, in 1870 they already were way ahead of present day ecologist. All we need to do now is to
figure out if the coins were "organically" produced. I am a chemist, so I am allowed to make chemical jokes.

The press had to be "inorganic" in order to make coins at 175 tons of pressure. It was very well built considering all its travels before ending up in the museum.

In 1869 it traveled to Carson City from Philadelphia. In 1899 was returned to Philadelphia. In 1945 was sent to San Francisco. In 1955
back to Carson City. In 1964 was working in Denver Mint and finally
in 1967 returned to the Nevada Stae Museum. At the museum once a month it is used to make commemorative medalions. These medalions can be bought at the gift shop.

What a great machine!

John Armonas

The dress code was somewhat different in those days.The planchets for coins were fed through a brass tube in front of the dies. The lady has her right hand at the top of the tube. Most of this work was done by
women.

This photograph appears in the "Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States" a complete encyclopedea, Volume II, p.2296 by Q. David Bowers.

John Armonas

Wearing that outfit around machinery is a safety nightmare now!!

Great pictures, I wonder why these positions were mainly done by the women of their time. I know that they had a knack for weighing and filing planchets to keep the weights of the coins uniform.

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