This may be a ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY to acquire one of the only known prototypes in this display case made by Nevada City Mint. This was made to incentivize the Empire Mine to purchase these souvenir centennial medals for "friends of the empire mine" and to this day I don't believe they ever did. It was too expensive to do them in sterling and they didn't feel the profit margin was there. Instead the front die was used to make cheaper metals and sold in small plastic clam shells. The backs were not detailed and just said "Nevada City Mint"

The First one says "Friends of the Empire Mine" and is intricately detailed showing the entrance of a mine shaft with an ore car.

The second one depicts portions of the empire mine and the writing says "Richest Mine In California. 11,000 ft incline depth. 1850-1956

This particular set has been in hiding for decades is now offered for the first time to the astute collecting community. Even rarer is the original display binder.  

The Nevada City Mint opened in 1975 as a one-man mint and is still in business today in Nevada City, California. An area brimming with old west CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH HISTORY. The Nevada City township owned the James Ott Assay office and leased it to Schmitz. The Assay office was located at the heart of California Gold Rush territory more than a century ago. Schmitz had been the official minter of Nevada when he operated the press at the Carson City Mint. 

Ott’s Assay Office is said to have had $27 million in gold pass through its doors without ever once being held up or robbed. Built sometime prior to the great fire of 1856, this two-story brick building originally housed the City Drugstore. Ott moved in when his original Assay Office, a wooden structure located just next door, burned to the ground in the fire of 1863. James J. Ott, a cousin of John Sutter, holds an important spot in the history of what became the state of Nevada. In 1859, he made the famous assay of the blue muck that was causing the Washoe miners no end of trouble, clogging up their workings, difficult or impossible to throw away. But when the blue muck turned out to be almost pure silver, the news started the fabulous Silver Rush to the Comstock Lode and Virginia City, Washoe County, Nevada Territory." [gonevadacouty.com] Issued for "Gold Dust for Assay."

A prime specimen for an advanced collection of Nevada City mint centennial medals with the ultimate historical significance. 

Please email with questions, I'll do my best to answer them. Thanks!