Editor’s Note: For nearly 70 years, the feature-rich pages of Coins magazine, Numismatic News’ venerable sister publication, have tracked the history, fun and the growth of this great hobby, while also attracting new collectors to pursue what was once deemed the “hobby of kings.” Dusting off these time-aged issues, from the early 1960s and beyond, each installment of “Past Times with Coins,” written by its former longtime editor, explores what nuggets of interest they contain.
The gold and silver rushes in California, Colorado and Nevada, and the mints that began operation because of them, have always had a special interest to collectors. In the April 1964 issue of Coins magazine, Lynn Glaser penned “U.S Mints and The Wild West,” beginning with the most famous of all of the precious metal rushes.
“What started the gold rush was John Marshall’s discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in January 1848,” Glaser wrote. “Sutter was a Swiss mercenary who had immigrated to the United States and set up a Baronal estate in California. At first Sutter tried to keep the news of the discovery a secret, but it soon leaked out and by the end of the year the Nation knew that there
