State beneficiary of coin collection donation

The Nevada State Museum, housed in the old Carson City Mint, today will become the permanent home to one of the most complete collection of coins minted here.

Wells Fargo will donate a rare Carson City coin collection to the state of Nevada. The collection, valued at more than $400,000, includes 109 of the 111 coins produced by the Carson City Mint and is on display at the museum.

The donation will be made at 1 p.m. today at the museum and is part of the company's celebration to commemorate its merger with Norwest.

"The merger between Norwest and Wells Fargo is an historic event and we wanted to do something very special for our customers and our communities to commemorate this important milestone," said Laura Schulte, president and CEO of Wells Fargo. "Much of the history of both Nevada and the United States is reflected in this unique coin collection and we're proud to make it permanently available to the people of our state."

The Carson City Collection was assembled over many years by one of Nevada's leading residents, Norman H. Blitz of Reno. In order to keep the collection intact, Blitz sold it to the First National Bank of Nevada, a predecessor of Wells Fargo.

The Carson City Mint was in operation for only 23 years, shorter than any other United States Mint. The rarest coin in the collection is an 1876 20-cent piece. Of the 10,000 coins that were struck, most were melted at the mint and only 10 to 12 are known to exist today.

Some of the highlights of the collection are:

- All of the dimes struck from 1871 through 1878, except the 1873 "without arrows" coin, of which only one is known to exist

- The short-lived 20-cent pieces, struck only in 1875 and 1876

- Half dollars (1870-1878)

- Liberty Seated silver dollars (1870-1873)

- Morgan-type silver dollars (1878-1885 and 1889)

- Trade dollars (1873-1878)

- Double Eagles - $20 gold pieces (1870-1879, 1882-1885, 1889-1893)

- Eagles - $10 gold pieces (1870-1884, 1890-1893)

- Half Eagles - $5 gold pieces (1870-1884, 1890-1893)