Philadelphia Mint

Last week we drove through Carson City, Nevada. We paused at the outside the old mint, which is now a museum. We didn’t have time to enter because we had a plane to catch in Reno. It reminded me of our visit to the Philadelphia mint a number of years ago.

We enjoyed the tour. Of course, a mint is where coins are produced. We toured the entire mint and witnessed the process. We also purchased a proof set which included a perfect specimen of each of the coins in current circulation—penny, nickel, dime, quarter and half dollar. I have not centered on collecting proofs, so that is a rarity in my collection.

Philadelphia housed the first U. S. mint and, thus, the longest existing one. It was built in 1793, and has occupied four locations in the city. Nearly all the proofs were minted in Philadelphia until 1968. Most coins include a mint mark, which indicates the place of origin. The early Philadelphia coins did not need a mint mark since it was the only location of mintage. It was 1980 when “P” was added to all the coins except Lincoln cents. Before then the only coins with the “P” mint mark were Susan B. Anthony dollars and wartime Jefferson nickels.

Several mints around the United States have closed. Charlotte, North Carolina (mint mark “C”), and Dahlonega, Georgia (“D”), hosted mints for gold coins (1838-1861); they were closed due to the Civil War. New Orleans (“O”) was home to an active mint from 1838 to 1909, except for 1861-1879. The mint in Carson City operated from 1870 to 1893 to take advantage of the silver discovery. Coins for the colony of the Philippines were minted in Manila from 1920-1922 and 1925-1941. Here’s interesting trivia: The Dalles, Oregon, was commissioned for a mint in 1864. Constructed began but was suspended in 1870 and was never used as a mint. The building still exists.

The other mints used for today’s currency are located in Denver (“D”) and San Francisco (“S”). The Denver mint was an assay office from 1863 until the mint began production in 1906. Philadelphia and Denver are the only mints in use for coins put in circulation. The San Francisco mint was established in 1854. A new facility built in 1874 survived the great earthquake of 1906 and continued in operation. The mint was closed in 1955 but reopened in 1965 to help with the shortage of coins. Since 1975 San Francisco has produced only proofs except for the Anthony dollar and some cents in the early 1980s which had no mint mark.

There are two more cities connected with the mint system. West Point was utilized to make cents from 1973-1988 (without mint marks) and became a mint in 1988, and is used for silver, gold and platinum American Eagle coins, marked “W.” Fort Knox is used as a storage for coins.

If you get a chance to visit one of the mints, current or closed, do it. You will enjoy the opportunity.